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UNIVERSITIES,  THEOLOGY,  AND  RELIGION. 


'1' 


>  OY   THE 

i'Fl  -'IRSITY 


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GERMANY; 


fttnihrsitus,  ^jjfologjr,  aitb  Jtligion; 


WITH  SKETCHES  OP 


NEANDER,  THOLUCK,  OLSHAUSEN,  HENGSTENBERG,  TWESTEN, 

NITZSCH,  MULLER,  ULLMANN,  ROTHE,  DORNER, 

LANGE,  EBRARD,  WICHERN, 


DISTINGUISHED  GERMAN  DIVINES  OF  THE  AGE. 


PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.  D., 

PROKEriSOR  IN  THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY,   MERCBRSBCBO,   PENXSYLVA5IA. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
LINDSAY    AND    BLAKISTON 

JfEW   YORK: 

SHELDON,    BLAKEMAN    &    CO. 
1857. 


Q  --> 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 
LINDSAY  AND  BLAKISTON, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


HENRY  B.   A3HMEAD,   BOOK   AND  JOB  PKIKTEB, 
George  Street  above  Eleventh. 


TO  THE  ALUMNI 


FRANKLIN   AND    MARSHALL   COLLEGE, 


f  fee  f  Ije0l0gica.l  j&miers  nt  SJerccrsburg, 


THIS    BOOK   IS    AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED,  IN   REMEMBRANCE    OF    TWELVE 

YEARS     OF     PLEASANT     AND     PROFITABLE     INTERCOURSE     DURING     THE 

MOST   INTERESTING    PERIOD    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF     THEIR   LITERARY 

AND  THEOLOGICAL  ALMA  MATER, 


THEIR    TEACHER    AND    FRIEND, 


.v 
t^  ^^  *'L/ 

PREFACE. 


"Providence  has  given  to  the  French  the  empire  of  the  land;  to 
the  English,  that  of  the  sea;  to  the  Germans,  that  of  the  air." 
By  this  famous  saying,  Jean  Paul,  himself  a  denizen  of  the  air,  in 
tended  to  proclaim  the  strength,  as  well  as  the  weakness,  of  his 
native  country ;  and  those  critics  who,  in  good  or  ill  humor,  quote 
it  to  the  disparagement  of  the  Germans,  seem  to  forget  that  the 
air  is  the  habitation  of  the  warbling  nightingale,  and  the  soaring 
eagle,  and  is  as  necessary  and  useful  to  man,  as  the  land,  and 
the  sea. 

Defined  neither  by  political  nor  natural  boundaries  ;  divided  into 
thirty-eight  sovereign  kingdoms,  grand  duchies,  duchies,  elector 
ates,  principalities,  and  free  cities  ;  including  all  forms  of  govern 
ment  from  the  absolute  monarchy  of  Austria,  to  the  republicanism 
of  Hamburg  and  Bremen ;  embracing  a  still  greater  variety  of 
tribes,  dialects,  customs,  and  opinions ;  and  almost  equally  balanced 
between  the  conflicting  interests  of  Romanism  and  Protestantism : 
Germany,  with  all  her  numerical  strength,  is  destitute  of  that  com 
pact  national  unity  and  imposing  political  power,  which  charac 
terizes  France  and  Great  Britain.  But,  situated  as  she  is,  in  the 
heart  of  Europe,  she  furnishes,  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  the 


8  PREFACE. 

heart's  blood,  the  ideas  and  principles,  of  modern  history,  and 
takes  the  lead  in  the  intellectual  mastery  of  the  world.  As,  in 
times  past,  she  invented  the  printing-press,  and  produced  the 
Reformation,  the  two  principal  levers  of  modern  civilization 
and  Christianity,  so  she  excels,  at  the  present  day,  in  every  depart 
ment  of  science  and  art ;  and  these  are,  after  all,  next  to  virtue 
and  religion,  the  noblest  pursuits,  and  the  highest  ornaments,  of 
immortal  man. 

The  Universities  of  Germany  are  regarded  by  competent  judges, 
as  the  first  among  the  learned  institutions  of  the  world.  The 
modern  literature  of  that  country  hardly  yields  to  any  other  in 
depth,  variety,  and  interest.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  in  its 
original  form  as  well  as  in  multiplying  translations,  imitations,  and 
more  independent  works,  it  has  become  already  a  power  for  both 
good  and  evil  in  England,  and  the  United  States,  as  irresistible  as 
the  current  of  a  mighty  river.  The  German  theology  of  the  last 
thirty  or  forty  years,  whatever  be  its  errors  and  defects,  its  ex 
travagances  and  follies,  \vhich  we  would  be  among  the  last  to 
deny,  or  to  defend,  is,  upon  the  whole,  the  most  learned,  original, 
fertile,  and  progressive  theology  of  the  age,  and  no  active  branch 
of  Protestantism  can  keep  entirely  aloof  from  its  contact  without 
injuring  its  own  interests. 

America  will  no  doubt  produce,  in  due  time,  a  classical  theology 
of  its  own,  that  shall  rise  superior  to  the  sectional  and  denomina 
tional  schools,  which  so  far  have  mostly  prevailed  amongst  us,  and 
be  truly  catholic  in  spirit,  and  influence.  That  theology,  if  we  are 
to  judge  from  the  extensive  preparations  now  going  on,  among 
Congregationalists,  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  Methodists, 
Baptists,  Lutherans,  German  Reformed,  and  other  denominations 
of  the  land,  will  not  be  simply  a  continuation  of  either  the 
English,  or  the  German  alone,  but  the  result  of  the  combined 


PREFACE.  9 

action  and  reaction  of  both,  as  applied  to  the  peculiar  wants  and 
condition  of  American  Christianity  and  society. 

But  in  order  that  the  modern  evangelical  theology  of  Germany 
may  become  properly  available  for  the  benefit  of  the  cognate 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  it  must  first  be  better  and  more  generally 
understood,  and  placed  in  its  proper  light  against  both  ignorant 
and  malevolent  censure,  and  indiscriminate  praise.  The  growing 
interest  in  it  seems  to  call  for  a  work,  which  should  furnish 
reliable  and  satisfactory  information  of  its  origin,  history,  con 
nections  and  bearings,  and  thus  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  English 
and  American  student  through  the  luxuriant  forest  of  Teutonic 
systems  and  opinions. 

To  such  a  task  the  writer  brings  the  advantages  of  a  regular 
German  university  education,  some  experience  as  a  university 
teacher,  and  an  American  residence,  sufficiently  long  to  enable 
him  to  understand  the  relations  of  German  and  Anglo-Saxon 
Christianity  and  literature,  and  to  view  the  old  world  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  new.  With  all  the  divines  described,  in  the 
third  part  of  this  book,  except  the  late  Dr.  Olshausen,  he  is 
acquainted  not  only  through  their  works,  but  also  by  more  or  less 
intimate  personal  intercourse,  lately  renewed,  during  a  protracted 
and  delightful  visit  to  Germany.  Some  of  them  were  his  honored 
teachers  at  Tubingen,  Halle,  and  Berlin ;  others  his  fellow- 
students,  or  colleagues ;  and  with  many  of  them  he  still  keeps  up  a 
familiar  correspondence.  In  occasionally  introducing  personal 
incidents,  and  harmless  traits  of  character,  not  before  made 
known  to  the  reading  public,  he  hopes  he  has  in  no  case  violated 
the  strictest  laws  of  propriety  and  delicacy,  which  are  doubly 
binding  when  we  treat  of  persons  still  living.  He  could  easily 
have  increased  the  number  of  sketches  from  personal  knowledge  ; 
but  he  preferred  to  dwell  more  at  length  on  the  most  worthy, 
2 


10  PREFACE. 

characteristic,  and  influential  representatives  of  the  evangelical 
theology  and  Christianity  of  modern  Protestant  Germany. 

The  writer  has  endeavored  to  make  his  book  both  instructive, 
and  interesting  to  the  general,  as  well  as  the  learned  reader.  But 
he  must  ask  the  kind  indulgence  of  English  scholars  for  the  un 
conscious  Germanisms,  and  other  defects  of  style,  as  this  is  the 
first  time  that  he  ventures  before  the  public,  in  a  work  of  such 
size,  without  the  aid  of  a  translator. 

That  this  volume  may  contribute  its  humble  share,  toward 
bringing  the  German  and  American  mind  into  closer  union  and 
friendly  cooperation  for  the  advancement  of  sound  Christian 
literature,  theology,  and  religion,  is  the  hope,  and  will  be  the  best 
reward,  of 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Mercersburg,  Pennsylvania,  Feb.  26,  1857. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


FIRST   PART. 
GERMAN   UNIVERSITIES. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    UNIVERSITIES    OF    GERMANY. 

Their  General  Character  and  Importance— Judgment  of  Sir  William  Hamilton 
and  Dr.  Tappan— List  of  the  German  Universities— Their  Eelation  to  the 
Churches— Their  Founders— Their  Support 27 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    FACULTIES. 

General  Organization  of  the  German  Universities— Difference  of  the  Ameri 
can  Colleges  and  the  English  Universities— The  Theological  Faculty— The 
Philosophical  Faculty— The  Faculty  of  Jurisprudence— The  Faculty  of  Medi 
cine—The  Academic  Degrees 3- 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    PROFESSORS. 

Ordinary  Professors— Extraordinary  Professors— Privatdocenten— Mode  of  In 
struction—The  Lecture  System,  its  Merits  and  Defects— The  True  System ...        42 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    STUDENTS. 

Necessary  Preparation — The  Gymnasial  Course — The  Examen  Maturitatis — 
The  Academic  Freedom — Life,  Manners  and  Habits  of  the  Students — Recent 
Improvements 49 


CHAPTER   V. 

UNIVERSITY   REFORM. 

Object  of  Proposed  Reforms — Restriction  of  the  Liberty  of  Teaching — Closer 
Union  with  the  Church— The  Claims  of  the  Lutheran  Party— Advantages  of 
the  Academic  Liberty — The  Inner  Mission  in  the  Universities — Hundesha- 
gen's  View  on  the  Subject— A  word  on  American  Universities 56 


CHAPTER   VI. 

BERLIN. 

The  Prussian  Universities — Berlin — Its  Distinguished  Professors,  and  other 
Literary  Celebrities — Alexander  von  Humboldt — The  New  Museum — The 
Egyptian  Antiquities— Kaulbach's  Historical  Pictures— The  Destruction  of 
Jerusalem— The  Pulpit  and  Christianity  in  Berlin— The  Religious  Destitu 
tion  compared  with  America — Recent  Improvement  and  Progress 62 

CHAPTER   VII. 

HALLE    AND    BONN. 

The  City  and  University  of  Halle— The  Theological  Department,  and  the 
Changes  and  Revolutions  it  has  passed  through — The  University  of  Bonn, 
and  its  Peculiar  Attractions— The  Rhine 72 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
GOTTINGEN    AND    LEIPSIC. 

Gottingen — Its  former  Fame — Its  recent  Decline  and  gradual  Recovery — 
Leipsic — Its  Literary  and  Theological  Character — The  Attractions  of  the 
City 77 

CHAPTER    IX. 

JENA   AND    THE    BURSCHENSCHAFT. 

The  University  of  Jena — Its  former  Celebrity — Weimar  and  the  German 
Classics— Origin  of  the  Burschenschaft— The  Wartburg  Festival— The  Sand 
Tragedy— Dissolution  of  the  Burschenschaft— Distinguished  German  Refu 
gees  to  America — Follen,  Lieber,  Rauch 82 


CONTENTS.  13 


CHAPTER    X. 

HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

The  City  and  University  of  Heidelberg — Their  various  Fortunes  and  present 
Condition — The  Theological  Faculty — Tubingen — The  general  Literary,  So 
cial,  and  Religious  Character  of  Wurtemberg— The  Pietists— Mode  of  Study 
in  Tubingen— Preponderance  of  Speculation— The  Tubingen  School— Eritis 
Sicut  Deus— Important  Change,  and  favorable  Prospects— Baur,  Beck,  Lan- 
derer,  Palmer,  Oehler 


SECOND   PART. 
GERMAN  THEOLOGY  AND  RELIGION, 


CHAPTER    XI. 

CHURCH    AND    STATE    IN    GERMANY. 

The  Free-Church  System  of  America — Freedom  of  Dissent  in  England — The 
State-Church  System  on  the  Continent — The  Roman  Catholic  Supremacy 
over  the  State— Dependence  of  Protestantism  upon  the  State — The  Theory  of 
the  Ecclesiastical  State-Supremacy  exposed— The  Evils  of  State-Churchism 
—Frightful  Amount  of  Infidelity— Growing  Dissatisfaction  with  the  System 
— The  attempted  Dissolution  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State,  by  the 
Frankfort  Parliament— The  Jfew  Prussian  Constitution,  and  its  Guarantees 
to  the  Freedom  of  the  Church ...  105 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

The  Bunsen-Stahl  Controversy — Stahl's  Views  on  Christian  Toleration — Bun- 
sen's  "  Signs  of  the  Times" — Opposition  to  Bunsen — Response  to  his  Plea  for 
Religious  Freedom— Position  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  the  approaching 
Meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  Berlin 119 


14  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE    ESTABLISHED    CHURCHES. 

Numerical  Proportion  of  Koman  Catholics  to  Protestants — Mixed  Religious 
Character  of  the  German  States — The  Three  Protestant  Churches — Luther- 
anism — The  Reformed  Confession — The  Evangelical  Union 129 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE    DISSENTING    SECTS. 

Religious  Liberty— General  Condition  of  the  Dissenters— Three  Classes  of 
Sects— The  Moravians— The  Old  Lutherans— The  Mennonites— The  Modern 
Baptists— The  Methodists— The  Swedenborgians— The  Irvingites— The  Hoff- 
mannites — The  Socinians — The  Friends  of  Light — The  German  Catholics — 
The  Mormons. . . ,  134 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  SKEPTICAL  ERA  OF  GERMANY. 

The  great  Apostacy  to  Rationalism  and  Infidelity — Its  various  Causes — The 
German  Classics  mostly  indifferent  or  hostile  to  Christianity — Goethe  and 
Schiller— Witnesses  of  Truth  during  the  Skeptical  Era— Reinhard,  Storr, 
Knapp — Klopstock,  Herder,  Hamann,  Jacobi — The  Romantic  School — John 
von  Muller — Schelling  and  Hegel — Claudius,  Stilling,  Lavater — The  Mora 
vians  and  the  Pietists.. . .  146 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  EVANGELICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  PIETY. 

The  War  of  National  Independence — The  Centennial  Jubilee  of  the  Reforma 
tion—The  Theses  of  Claus  Harms— The  Evangelical  Union  of  Prussia— In 
fluence  of  Schleiermacher  and  his  Theology — The  School  of  Scbleiermacher 
and  Neander,  and  other  Evangelical  Divines — The  Reformation  of  the  Pulpit 
— The  Restoration  of  ancient  Hymns  and  Liturgies — The  return  of  Philoso 
phy  and  other  Sciences  to  the  Spirit  of  Christianity 152 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE    CONFLICT    OF    CHRISTIANITY   WITH    THE    LATEST 
FORMS    OF    INFIDELITY. 

Reaction  of  Infidelity — Pantheism  and   Transcendentalism — The  Tubingen 
School  of  Baur,  Strauss,  etc. — The  Hallesche  Jahrbucher,  Feuerbach  and 


CONTENTS.  15 

Yogt — The  Apologetic  Literature  in  Defence  of  the  Gospel  History  and 
Primitive  Christianity — Young  Germany,  Heine,  Boerne,  etc  — The  Friends 
of  Light — The  German  Catholics — The  Revolution  of  1848 — Reaction,  and 
increased  Efforts  for  Religious  and  Social  Reform— The  Evangelical  Church- 
Diet — The  Gustavus-Adolphus  Society — The  Cause  of  Missions— Future 
Prospects 158 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

LUTHERANISM    AND    REFORM. 

General  Character  of  the  Difference  between  Lutheranism  and  Reform — Its 
National  Basis — Relation  of  both  to  Romanism — Doctrinal  and  Theological 
Difference  between  the  two  Churches — Difference  in  Constitution  and  Dis 
cipline — Difference  in  Worship  and  Ceremonies — Difference  in  Practical 
Pietv...  167 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE    EVANGELICAL    UNION. 

Unity,  an  essential  Attribute,  and  Duty  of  the  Christian  Church— Early  At 
tempts  to  unite  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Confessions  in  Germany — The 
Marburg  Conference — The  Wittenberg  Concordia — Bucer  and  Melanthon — 
The  Lutheran  Confessionalism— Zwingli  and  Calvin— The  Electors  of  Bran 
denburg  and  the  Prussian  Symbols — Indifferentism  of  the  Eighteenth  Cen 
tury—The  Revival  of  Faith  in  the  Nineteenth  Century— Its  Catholic  Spirit- 
King  Frederick  William  III.,  and  the  Prussian  Union  of  1817 — Introduction 
of  the  Union  in  other  German  States 178 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE    CONFLICT    OF    UNIONISM    AND    CONFESSIONALISM. 

Controversies  growing  out  of  the  Union — Their  Causes — The  Proclamation  of 
1817 — The  New  Prussian  Liturgy,  and  the  Old  Lutheran  Secession — The 
Explanatory  Decree  of  1834 — The  Rise  of  Xew  Lutheranism  in  the  Prussian 
Establishment — The  Confessional  Separation  in  the  Oberkirchenrath,  1852 — 
The  Union  Decree  of  1853 — The  proposed  General  Synod  of  Prussia — The 
Evangelical  Conference  of  1856 — Present  State  of  Church  Parties — The  Lati- 
tudinarian  Unionists,  the  Confessional  Unionists,  the  High-Church  Confed- 
eralists — Prospects 186 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

THE    EVANGELICAL    CHURCH    DIET. 

General  Character  and  Object  of  the  Kirchentag — Its  Origin  in  the  Revolu 
tionary  year  1848 — The  Sandhof  Conference — Von  Bethmann   Hollweg — 


16  CONTENTS. 

First  Meeting  at  Wittenberg — Luther's  War-hymn — Peculiar  Solemnity  and 
Importance  of  the  First  Meeting — Its  Results — Kelation  of  the  Church-Diet 
to  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  and  to  the  Union 200 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

HISTORY   AND    RESULTS    OF    THE    CHURCH    DIET. 

The  Eight  Meetings  of  the  Kirchentag— Mode  and  Character  of  the  Proceed 
ings — The  Church  Diet  of  Berlin,  and  the  solemn  Adoption  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession — Merle  d'Aubigne's  Speech  iu  behalf  of  the  Reformed  Church — 
The  Kirchentag  of  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  and  its  principal  Reports— Fra 
ternal  Correspondence  with  the  German  Churches  of  America — The  Kir 
chentag  of  Lubeck — Future  Prospects — General  Results  and  happy  Influ 
ence  of  the  Church  Diet — The  Work  of  Inner  Mission  and  Dr.  Wichern 213 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THEOLOGICAL    SCHOOLS    AND    CHURCH   PARTIES. 

The  Classical  Period  of  German  Theology— Its  prevailing  Spirit— Variety  of 
Schools — The  Age  of  Rationalism  and  Supernaturalism — Dr.  De  Wette — 
The  Age  of  Schleiermacher  and  Hegel — Division  in  the  Hegelian  Ranks — 
The  Tubingen  School 238 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THEOLOGICAL    SCHOOLS    AND    CHURCH    PARTIES,    CON 
CLUDED. 

The  Age  of  Unionism  and  Coufessionalism — The  Unionists  with  their  three 
Subdivisions,  the  Centre,  the  Right  Wing,  and  the  Left  Wing— The  Luthe 
rans—The  Reformed 246 


THIRD    PART. 
SKETCHES    OF   GERMAN   DIVINES. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

N  E  A  N  D  E  R. 

His  Jewish  Descent — His  Conversion  and  Baptism — His  Theological  Studies — 
Relation  to  Schleierinacher— His  Academic  Labors  at  Heidelberg  and  Ber- 


CONTENTS.  17 

lin— Last  Illness  and  Death— His  Sister  Hannchen— Neander's  Personal 
Appearance  and  Eccentricities — His  Moral  and  Religious  Character — Social 
Habits— Lectures— His  Theological  Works,  and  Merits  for  Church  History. .  261 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

T  II  0  L  U  C  K. 

His  early  History  and  Conversion— The  True  Consecration  of  the  Skeptic- 
Baron  von  Kottwitz— Tholuck's  Academic  Career  at  Berlin  and  Halle— His 
Personal  Character,  and  Love  for  the  Students — His  Lectures  and  Sermons 
—His  Scholarship  and  Theological  Position— His  Works  and  Merits 278 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

OLSHAUSEN. 

Notice  of  his  Life — His  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament — Character  of  his 
Exegesis— The  Doctrine  of  Inspiration— Continuation,  and  English  Transla 
tion  of  Olshausen 29.3 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

HENGSTENBERG. 

His  Position  and  Influence — His  Moral  Courage  and  Independence — His  Edu 
cation  and  Conversion — Hengstenherg  as  a  Lecturer — His  Theological  Stand 
point,  and  uncompromising  Hostility  to  Rationalism — His  Relation  to  Eng 
lish  and  American  Orthodoxy— His  Critical  and  Exegetical  Works  on  the 
Old  Testament— Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse— His  Evangelical  Church 
Gazette,  the  leading  Organ  of  the  Orthodox  Party  in  the  Prussian  Church— 
His  Correspondents — His  recent  Progress  in  High  Church  Confessionalism — 
His  present  Relation  to  the  Unioa  and  the  Church  Question 300 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

T  W  E  S  T  E  N. 

The  Progress  of  German  Theology  in  the  Direction  of  Orthodoxy — Schleier- 
macher,  Neander,  Tholuck,  and  Hengstenberg  in  their  mutual  Relations— 
The  Systematic  Divines  of  the  Evangelical  Union-School— Dr.  Twesten— His 
Personal  Character  and  Social  Habits — His  Work  on  Dogmatics — His  Stand 
point  and  Merits— His  View  of  Religion— His  Relation  to  Schleiermacher 
and  the  Union 320 


18  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

N  I  T  Z  S  C  H. 

His  general  Character  and  Position— His  Peculiarities  as  a  Writer— Sketch  of 
his  Life  and  Sphere  of  Activity— His  System  of  Christian  Doctrine,  and  The 
ological  Stand-point — His  other  Works — His  Character  as  Lecturer,  Preach 
er  to  the  University,  and  Member  of  the  highest  Church  Council  in  Prussia 
— Lehnerdt — Strauss 331 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

J  I  ^  x  .,        DULLER. 

Personal  Notice — Muller's  Character  as  a  Divine — His  Work  on  Sin — His 
Attempt  to  show  the  Doctrinal  Unity  of  Protestantism — The  Formula  Con 
sensus—The  other  Divines  of  Halle,  Hupfeld,  Moll,  Jacobi  and  Guericke. . .  340 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

U  L  L  M  A  N  N. 

Ullmann's  Academic  Career— His  Present  Position  and  Labors  as  Prelate  at 
Carlsruhe — The  Character  of  his  Theology — His  Apologetic  and  Christologi- 
cal  Works — The  Sinlessness  of  Jesus — Essay  on  the  Distinctive  Character  of 
Christianity— His  Historical  Works— The  Reformers  before  the  Reformation 
— Arguments  for  Protestantism — Gregory  of  Nazianzen — The  Studien  und 
Kritikeu 347 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

R  0  THE. 

Rothe's  Position  and  Genius — His  Theological  Ethics — Views  on  Speculative 
Theology,  or  Theosophy — His  Work  on  the  Primitive  Church — Views  on 
the  Origin  of  Episcopacy — Comparison  with  Isaac  Taylor  and  Kevin,  on 
Early  Christianity— Rothe's  Theory  of  the  Church  as  related  to  the  State, 
and  its  final  Dissolution  into  a  new  Theocracy— Critical  Remarks 360 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

D  0  R  N  E  R. 

Personal  Notices— Dorner's  Theological  Position  and  Early  Popularity— His 
History  of  Christology— Other  Literary  Labors— Relation  to  the  Practical 
Questions  of  the  Age 376 


CONTENTS.  19 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

L  A  X  G  E. 

Lange,  the  Representative  of  Poetical  Theology,  and  Theological  Poetry— His 
Excellences  and  Defects— His  Life  of  Christ— His  Christian  Dogmatics- 
Origin  and  Education— Early  Productions— The  "Land  of  Glory"— Strauss 
called  to  Zurich— A  Republican  Revolution— Lange  elected  in' his  place— 
His  Labors  in  Zurich  and  Bonn 381 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

E  B  R  A  R  D. 

Sketch  of  his  Life— His  Literary  'xcellences  and  Defects  of  his 
Writings— His  Defence  of  the  Gospei-1  story  against  the  destructive  Criti 
cism  of  the  Tubingen  School— His  Dogmatic  Works  and  Relation  to  the 
German  Reformed  Church-His  Views  on  Predestination  and  the  Eucharist 
—His  Lectures  on  Practical  Theology 389 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

HUXDESHAGEX,  S  C  II  E  X  K  E  L,  HAGEXBACH,  H  E  R  Z  O  G. 

Modern  German  Reformed  Theology— Schleiermacher— Hundeshagen— His 
Review  of  German  Protestantism,  a  Mirror  of  the  Crisis  before  the  Revo 
lution  of  1848-Schenkel-Hagenbach-Herzog-The  Theological  Encyclo 
paedia 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

W I  C  H  E  B  N. 

Character  of  Wichern-Christian  Philanthropy-The  Rough  House-Personal 
Interviews-The  Church  Diet,  and  the  Inner  Mission-The  Evangelical  Con 
ference  and  the  Diaconate— Fliedner  and  the  Deaconesses— Wichern  in 
Prussia— Concluding  Reflections  on  the  Prospects  of  Christianity  in  Ger- 
""' 405 


FIRST    PART. 


GERMAN    UNIVERSITIES. 


9Mm^ 

CHAPTER    I. 


THE    UNIVERSITIES    OF    GERMANY. 

Their  General  Character  and  Importance — Judgment  of  Sir  William  Ham 
ilton  and  Dr.  Tappan — List  of  the  German  Universities — Their  Denomi 
national  Character — Their  Founders — Their  Support 

THE  Universities  are  the  pride  and  glory  of  Germany. 
They  exert  more  influence  there  than  similar  institu 
tions  in  any  other  country.  They  are  the  centres  of 
the  higher  intellectual  and  literary  life  of  the  nation, 
and  the  laboratories  of  new  systems  of  thought  and  theo 
ries  of  action.  They  reflect  a  picture  of  the  whole 
world  of  nature  and  of  mind  under  its  ideal  form.  They 
develop  the  talents  and  form  the  principles  of  nearly  all 
who  fill  the  places  of  power  and  influence  in  church  and 
state,  from  the  village  pastor  to  the  "  Oberconsistorial- 
rath" — from  the  advocate  at  the  bar  to  the  head  of  the 
cabinet.  They  receive  the  best  minds,  from  the  lowest 
as  well  as  the  highest  ranks,  to  mould  them  for  the 
learned  professions,  and  fit  them  for  public  usefulness. 
From  them  emanate  principally  the  ideas  and  maxims 
which  rule  the  land,  either  in  the  service  of  the  exist 
ing  order  of  things,  or  in  the  interest  of  progress.  It 
is  characteristic  that  the  Reformation  in  Germany 
proceeded,  not  from  princes  and  bishops,  as  in  Eng 
land,  but  from  theological  professors.  The  great  philo- 


28  THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY. 

sopliical  and  theological  revolution  of  the  last  century, 
and  the  counter  revolution  of  the  present  century, 
have  likewise  proceeded  mainly  from  the  studies  and 
lecture  rooms  of  academic  teachers. 

Such  a  supremacy  of  literary  institutions  and  literary 
men  has  its  disadvantages  as  well  as  its  advantages,  and 
would  not  be  possible  in  a  country  like  England  or 
the  United  States,  where  politics  and  commerce  occupy 
so  important  a  position,  and  engage  in  their  service  a 
large  proportion  of  the  best  talent  and  energy  of  the 
nation.  But  in  Germany  it  is  closely  connected  with 
the  genius,  history  and  condition  of  the  people,  and  no 
one  can  form  a  correct  idea  of  its  higher  and  deeper 
life  without  a  knowledge  of  its  universities.  Each 
nation  has  its  peculiar  mission  and  excellency.  Ancient 
Israel  was  elected  to  prepare  the  true  religion  for  the 
world ;  Greece  had  to  develop  the  principles  of  science 
and  art ;  Rome  was  chosen  to  actualize  the  idea  of  law 
and  civil  government.  So  in  our  times  the  chief  signi 
ficance  of  Germany  lies  neither  in  politics,  nor  in  war, 
nor  in  commerce,  but  in  science  and  literature. 

The  German  universities  exert  also  a  powerful  influ 
ence  upon  other  countries.  Situated  in  the  heart  of 
Europe,  and  visited  by  strangers  from  all  quarters  of 
the  globe,  they  are  the  firmest  anchors  of  general  learn 
ing  and  literature,  and  amongst  the  principal  strong 
holds  of  modern  European  and  American  culture  under 
its  highest  aspect. 

The  late  Sir  William  Hamilton,  in  his  review  of 
Cousin's  celebrated  report  on  the  Prussian  system  of 
education,  truly  remarks:  "  The  institutions  of  Germany 


THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY.  29 

for  public  instruction  we  have  long  known  and  admired. 
We  saw  these  institutions  accomplishing  their  end  to  an 
extent  and  in  a  degree  elsewhere  unexampled ;  and  were 
convinced  that  if  other  nations  attempted  an  improve 
ment  of  their  educational  policy,  this  could  only  be 
accomplished  rapidly,  surely  and  effectually,  by  adopt 
ing,  as  far  as  circumstances  would  permit,  a  system 
thus  improved  by  an  extensive  experience  and  the  most 
memorable  success."  Dr.  Tappan,  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Michigan,  responds  to  this  favorable  judg 
ment  of  the  distinguished  French,  and  the  equally  dis 
tinguished  Scotch  philosopher,  and  holds  up  especially 
the  universities  of  Germany  as  the  most  perfect  educa 
tional  establishments  in  the  world. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  all  the  German  universities 
in  the  chronological  order  of  their  foundation.  We 
exclude  those  of  German  Switzerland,  (Basel,  Zurich, 
Berne ;)  the  Alsace  of  France,  (Strasburg ;)  and  the 
Baltic  provinces  of  Russia,  (Dorpat,)  which  are  like 
wise  German  in  language  and  spirit,  but  not  in  a  politi 
cal  or  geographical  sense : 

(A.)  From  tlie  Fourteenth  Century. 

1.  Prague,  founded  A.  D.  1348,  Roman  Catholic. 

2.  Vienna,  1365,   Roman  Catholic,  (but  including 
now  also  a  Protestant  Theological  Faculty.) 

3.  Heidelberg,  1386,  Protestant,  (Evangelical.) 

4.  Cologne,  1388,  Roman  Catholic,  (abolished.) 

5.  Erfurt,  1392,  Mixed,  (abolished  in  1816.) 

(B.)  From  the  Fifteenth  Century. 

6.  Leipsic,  founded  1409,  Protestant,  (Lutheran.) 

3* 


30  THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY. 

7.  Rostock,  1419,  Protestant,  (Lutheran.) 

8.  Greifswalde,  1456,  Protestant.  (Evangelical.) 

9.  Freiburg,  1457,  Roman  Catholic. 

10.  Ingolstadt,  1472   Roman   Catholic,   (transferred 
to  Landshut  in  1802,  and  from  thence  to  Munich 
in  1826.) 

11.  Tubingen,  1477,  Mixed. 

12.  Mayence,  1477,  Roman  Catholic,  (now  reduced 
to  a  Theological  Seminary.) 

(C.)  From  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

13.  Wittenberg,  founded  1502,  Protestant,  (Lutheran, 
transferred  to  Halle  in  1817,  and  now  reduced  to 
an  Evangelical  Seminary  for  candidates  of  the  min 
istry,  who  have  finished  their  University  course.) 

14.  Frankfort-on-the-Oder,  1506,  (transferred  to  Bres- 
lau  in  1811,)  Mixed. 

15.  Marburg,  1527,  Protestant,  (Evangelical.) 

16.  Konigsberg,  1544,  Protestant,  (Evangelical.) 

17.  Dillingin,  1549,  Roman  Catholic,   abolished    in 
1802. 

18.  Jena,  1558,  Protestant,  (Lutheran.) 

19.  Helmstadt,  1576,  Protestant,  (abolished  in  1809.) 

20.  Altdorf,  1578,  Protestant,  (abolished  in  1807.) 

21.  Olmutz,  1581,  Roman  Catholic. 

22.  Wurzburg,  1582,  Roman  Catholic. 

23.  Gratz,  1586,  Roman  Catholic. 

(D.)  From  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

24.  Giessen,  founded  1607,  Mixed. 

25.  Paderborn,  1615,  Roman  Catholic,  (reduced  to  a 
Seminary.) 


THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY.  31 

26.  Rinteln,  1621,  Protestant,  (abolished  1809.) 

27.  Salzburg,  1623,  Roman  Catholic. 

28.  Osnabriick,  1630,  (abolished.) 

29.  Linz,  1636,  Roman  Catholic,  (reduced  to  a  Col 
lege  and  Seminary.) 

30.  Bamberg,  1648,  Roman  Catholic,  (reduced  to  a 
College  in  1803.) 

31.  Herborn,  1654,  Protestant,  (reduced  to  a  Theo 
logical  Seminary.) 

32.  Duisburg,  1655,  Reformed,  (abolished  in  1804.) 

33.  Kiel,  1665,  Protestant,  (Lutheran.) 

34.  Innsbruck,  1672,  Roman  Catholic. 

35.  Halle,  1694,  Protestant,  (Evangelical.) 

(E.)  From  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

36.  Breslau,  founded  1702,  Mixed. 

37.  Gottingen,  1737,  Protestant,  (Lutheran.) 

38.  Erlangen,  1743,  Protestant,  (Lutheran  and  Re 
formed.) 

(F.)  From  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

39.  Berlin,  founded  1810,  Protestant,  (Evangelical.) 

40.  Bonn,  1818,  Mixed. 

41.  Munich,  1826,  Roman  Catholic. 

Deducting  those  institutions  which  have  been  either 
entirely  abolished  or  reduced  to  mere  Colleges  and  Theo 
logical  Seminaries,  we  have  twenty-six  Universities  left 
for  the  entire  German  Confederation.  Of  these  six 
belong  to  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia,  (Berlin,  Halle,  Bonn, 
Konigsberg,  Greifswalde,  to  which  may  be  added  the 
Roman  Catholic  High  School  of  Munster ;)  six  to  the 


32  THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY. 

Empire  of  Austria,  (Vienna,  Prague,  Olmutz,  Gratz, 
Salzburg,  Innsbruck ;)  three  to  the  Kingdom  of  Bavaria, 
(Munich,  Erlangen,  Wurzburg ;)  two  to  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Baden,  (Heidelberg  and  Freiburg;)  one  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Wurtembcrg,  (Tubingen ;)  one  to  the 
Kingdom  of  Saxony,  (Leipsic  ;)  the  rest  to  the  smaller 
principalities. 

As  regards  religion,  eight  are  exclusively  under  the 
influence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  thirteeen  be 
long  to  the  Protestant  Church,  and  five  to  both  denomi 
nations,  having  a  double  theological  faculty.  The  Ro 
man  Catholic  Universities,  especially  those  of  Austria, 
are  greatly  behind  the  Protestant  in  learning  and  effi 
ciency.  Olmutz,  Salzburg  and  Innsbruck  are  incom 
plete. 

The  Protestant  Universities,  are  again,  either  Lutheran, 
or  Evangelical,  i.  e.,  devoted  to  the  union  of  the  Reformed 
and  Lutheran  Churches.  All  the  Prussian  Universities, 
except  Munster,  which  is  not  complete,  belong  to  the  latter 
description.  Exclusively  Reformed  Universities  there 
are  none  in  Germany  proper.  But  the  Swiss  Universi 
ties  of  Basel,  Zurich  and  Berne,  are  all  German  Re 
formed.  The  Dutch  Universities  of  Utrecht,  Leyden 
and  Groningen,  which  differ  little  from  the  German,  are 
likewise  Reformed. 

The  German  Universities  were  founded  by  emperors, 
princes,  or  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  ;  in  a  few  cases,  as 
in  Cologne,  Erfurt  and  Strasburg,  by  the  magistrates  of 
the  cities.  The  motives  which  prompted  these  great 
establishments,  were  without  exception,  pure  and  ele 
vated,  and  generally  pious  and  Christian.  The  founders 


THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY.  33 

wished  to  promote  thereby  science  and  virtue,  know 
ledge  and  wisdom,  the  glory  of  God  and  the  happiness 
of  man. 

In  the  middle  ages,  the  Pope  as  the  spiritual  head  of 
the  Christian  nations  of  Europe,  gave  the  charter  and 
conferred  the  academic  privileges  upon  the  new  institu 
tion.  He  also  elected  the  first  chancellor.  Since  the 
Reformation,  of  course,  the  papal  sanction  is  confined  to 
strictly  Roman  Catholic  institutions,  or  has  ceased  en 
tirely.  The  Protestant  Universities,  which  date  from 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  were  founded 
by  the  authority  of  the  emperor ;  but  since  the  dissolu- 
lution  of  the  German  Empire,  every  sovereign  can  estab 
lish  such  an  institution  in  his  own  name.  Berlin,  Bonn, 
and  Munich,  have  neither  papal  nor  imperial  sanction, 
but  owe  their  origin  simply  to  the  kings  of  Prussia  and 
Bavaria,  and  yet  they  stand  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
universities. 

The  support  of  these  institutions  is  derived  from 
princely,  or  private  donations  in  money,  or  real  estate, 
from  tithes,  and  from  annual  appropriations  of  the  gov 
ernment.  The  Popes  frequently  transferred  to  them 
the  proceeds  of  a  part  of  the  church  property.  At  the 
time  of  the  Reformation,  the  wealth  of  the  secularized 
abbeys,  and  since  1773,  the  funds  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits, 
were  to  a  considerable  extent  devoted  to  the  same  pur 
pose.  Besides,  the  universities  are  generally  exempted 
from  taxation,  and  enjoy  other  temporal  advantages. 
The  tuition  forms  the  least  source  of  income.  The  stu 
dents  have  to  pay,  besides  the  matriculation  fee,  a  cer 
tain  sum  (from  §2  to  §10,)  for  each  course  of  lectures, 


34  THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  GERMANY. 

to  the  treasurer,  for  the  benefit  of  the  teachers  ;  but  the 
latter  receive  their  principal  support  from  a  fixed  salary 
paid  by  the  state.  This  varies  from  a  few  hundred  to 
several  thousand  dollars,  according  to  the  age,  merit 
and  reputation  of  the  professor. 


VJ.J.X1.JL    J.JUJLV     JLJ.. 


THE    FOUR    FACULTIES. 

General  Organization  of  the  German  Universities — Difference  from  the 
American  Colleges,  and  the  English  Universities — The  Theological  Fa 
culty — The  Philosophical  Faculty — The  Faculty  of  Jurisprudence — The 
Faculty  of  Medicine — The  Academic  Degrees. 

THE  organization  of  the  European  universities  is  de 
rived  from  that  of  Paris,  the  oldest  among  them 
(founded  in  the  twelfth  century,)  and  was  originally  of 
a  double  kind ;  national  and  literary.  They  were  di 
vided  into  four,  or  as  many  more  nations,  as  were  repre 
sented  in  the  body  of  teachers  and  pupils;  and  into 
four  faculties,  a  term  which  signifies  both  the  professors 
devoted  to  a  particular  science,  and  the  sciences  them 
selves. 

The  former  division  has  been  long  since  abolished ; 
the  latter  remains.  Each  faculty  has  its  dean,  who  is 
elected  annually  from  the  professors,  who  constitute  it. 
At  the  head  of  the  whole  academic  body  stands  the 
rector,  or  the  chancellor,  who  is  likewise  chosen  for 
one  year,  from  the  regular  professors  of  the  various 
faculties  in  turn,  and  entrusted  with  the  care  of  govern 
ment  and  administration,  according  to  the  statutes  or 
constitution.  The  legislative  power  resides  in  the  aca 
demical  senate,  which  is  composed  of  all  or  a  delegated 
part  of  the  ordinary  professors  of  the  four  faculties. 


'6(5  THE  FOUR  FACULTIES. 

A  university  is  thus  a  complete  republic  of  letters, 
with  an  organization  of  its  own,  and  enjoys,  with  the 
exception  of  Austria,  a  high  degree  of  independence 
upon  the  church  and  the  state,  although  it  serves  the 
interests  of  both  by  furnishing  to  them  ministers,  law 
yers,  physicians,  and  all  the  higher  officers. 

The  academic  liberty  both  intellectual,  moral,  and 
personal,  the  liberty  of  the  professors  to  teach,  and  of 
the  students  to  learn,  without  any  restraint  from  with 
out,  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  highest  privileges  of  a 
German  University. 

The  four  faculties  embrace  all  the  divine  and  human 
sciences,  and  make  up  the  idea  of  a  university;  a  term 
which  as  Savigny  has  shown,  was  first  applied  to  the 
body  of  teachers  and  pupils,  (Universitas  Scholarium,) 
but  is  now  understood  mainly  of  the  totality  of  letters, 
(Universitas  Literarum,)  and  the  completeness  of  the 
system  of  instruction. 

Hence  such  an  institution  is  something  very  different 
from  an  American  College.  Our  colleges  claim  and 
exercise,  indeed,  the  academic  privilege  of  conferring 
all  the  literary  degrees ;  but  in  their  studies  and  organi 
zation  they  correspond  rather  to  the  German  Gymnasia, 
or  Lycea,  which  are  simply  preparatory  schools  for 
the  professional  studies  of  the  University.  The  institu 
tions  of  Cambridge,  New  Haven,  and  Charlottesville 
approach  nearer  the  European  idea,  since  they  have  a 
legal,  medical,  and,  with  the  exception  of  Charlottes 
ville,  also  a  theological  school  in  addition  to  the  literary 
or  classical  department.  But  the  latter  forms  the  proper 
body  of  these  institutions,  and  the  law  school  and  medi 
cal  school — the  philosophical  faculty  is  wanting  alto- 


THE   FOUR  FACULTIES.  37 

gether — are  simply  an  appendage  to  it ;  while  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe  the  professional  studies  constitute 
the  university  education,  and  are  pursued  on  a  far  more 
extensive  scale,  and  on  the  basis  of  an  already  finished 
college  course.  Our  colleges  are  built  upon  the  English 
plan,  which  differs  considerably  from  the  Scotch  and  the 
Continental.  For  Oxford  and  Cambridge  are  simply  a 
confederation  of  colleges,  in  which  the  tutorial  system 
rules,  and  the  lecture  system  with  the  professional  stu 
dies  is  made  subordinate,  although  the  recent  reforms 
have  given  them  a  little  more  prominence. 

We  now  proceed  to  a  separate  notice  of  the  four  pro 
fessional  schools,  which  belong  to  a  German  university. 

1.  The  theological  faculty  still  has  the  supremacy  of 
honor,  since  at  the  time  when  the  most  of  the  universi 
ties  were  founded,  theology  was  emphatically  the  queen 
of  sciences,  to  which  all  the  others  were  contributary. 
The  great  institution  of  Paris  was  at  first  simply  a  theo 
logical  and  philosophical  school ;  the  philosophical  stu 
dies  served  as  a  preparation  to  scholastic  divinity,  and 
the  philosophical  professors  were  all  divines  and  eccle 
siastics. 

In  the  middle  ages  theology  was  confined  to  the  in 
terpretation  of  the  Latin  Bible  on  the  basis  of  the  Ca- 
tenss  Patrum,  and  to  scholastic  dogmatics  and  ethics, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Sentences  of  Peter  the  Lom 
bard,  called  the  "  Magister  Sententiarum." 

In  modern  times,  the  field  has  been  greatly  en 
larged  by  the  addition  of  oriental  philology,  biblical  cri 
ticism,  hermeneutics,  antiquities,  church  history  and 
doctrine  history,  homiletics,  catechetics,  liturgies,  pas- 
4 


38  THE  FOUR  FACULTIES. 

toral  theology  and  theory  of  church  government.  No 
theological  faculty  is  considered  complete  now,  which 
has  not  separate  teachers  for  the  exegetical,  historical, 
systematic,  and  practical  branches  of  divinity.  The 
German  professors,  however,  are  not  confined  to  their 
respective  departments,  as  is  the  case  in  our  American 
seminaries,  but  may  deliver  lectures  on  any  other 
branch,  as  far  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  their  imme 
diate  duties.  Schleiermacher,  for  instance,  taught  at 
different  times  almost  every  branch  of  theology  and 
philosophy. 

2.  The  philosophical  faculty  is  by  far  the  most  com 
prehensive  as  to  the  number  of  teachers  and  the  subjects 
of  instruction,  and  embraces  many  branches,  which  have 
nothing  or  very  little  to  do  with  philosophy  proper,  as 
history,  ancient  and  modern  languages,  mathematics, 
belles  letters.  It  was  formerly  called  the  faculty  of 
arts,  (facultas  artium  liberalium,)  hence  the  terms, 
Bachelor  and  Master  of  Arts,  still  in  use  in  England  and 
America.  In  the  middle  ages  all  human  sciences  as 
distinct  from  theology,  were  divided  into  seven  artes 
liberates,  viz.,  grammar,  rhetoric,  dialectic,  arithmetic, 
music,  geometry  and  astronomy,  and  expressed  by  the 
following  versus  meinorialis : 

"  Lingua,  tropus,  ratio,  numerus,  tenor,  angulus,  astra." 

The  first  three  constituted  the  Trivium,  the  remaining 
four  the  Quadrivium  of  the  academical  course.  The 
principal  text-books  in  these  departments  were  the  dia 
lectical,  ethical  and  physical  works  of  Aristotle,  until 
the  Reformation,  and  the  philosophy  of  Bacon  and  Car- 


THE  FOUR  FACULTIES.  39 

tesius  deposed  the  great  Stagirite  from  his  long  reign  in 
the  temple  of  science. 

Since  that  time  the  historical,  philological,  and  natu 
ral  sciences  have  made  such  immense  progress,  that  the 
philosophical  department  might  easily  be  divided  into 
three  or  four  separate  faculties.  This  would  be  done, 
too,  no  doubt,  if  the  universities  were  organized  now  in 
keeping  with  the  actual  state  of  science.  The  Univer 
sity  of  Paris  has  five  faculties,  the  philosophical  depart 
ment  being  divided  into  the  faculte  des  sciences,  and  the 
facultS  des  lettres. 

The  philosophical  study,  properly  so  called,  includes 
logic,  metaphysics,  philosophy  of  nature,  anthropology 
and  psychology,  philosophy  of  law  or  political  ethics, 
philosophy  of  history,  philosophy  of  art  or  aesthetics, 
moral  philosophy,  philosophy  of  religion,  and  history  of 
philosophy. 

3.  The   faculty  of  laiv,   (facultas  juris  canonici  et 
civilis)  embraces  in  Germany  a  greater  variety  of  stu 
dies,   especially  also  the  history  of  civil,  criminal,  and 
common  law,  the  exposition  of  the  ancient  Roman  code, 
and  the  Canon  law,  than  our  law  schools  which  are 
almost  exclusively  concerned  with  the  common  law  of 
England  and  the  laws  of  our  own  country,  but  which 
are  perhaps  better  calculated  on  the  other  hand,  in  con 
nection  with  the  many  opportunities  for  public  speaking, 
and  our  republican  institutions,  to  prepare  for  the  exer 
cise  of  the  profession  at  the  bar,  and  for  practical  states 
manship.     The  oldest  law  school  was  founded  at  Bologna 
and  served  as  a  model  for  the  others. 

4.  The  faculty  of  medicine  comprehends  chemistry, 


40  THE  FOUR   FACULTIES. 

physiology,  anatomy,  phrenology,  pathology,  and  similar 
sciences,  which  are  taught  also  in  all  our  regular  medi 
cal  colleges.  The  universities  of  Berlin,  Munich  and 
Vienna  enjoy,  next  to  Paris,  the  greatest  reputation  in 
this  line,  since  they  have  all  those  facilities  of  large 
hospitals  and  extensive  collections,  which  can  only  be 
found  in  populous  cities. 

The  academical  degrees  originated  likewise  in  the 
middle  ages.  They  seem  to  have  been  used  first  in  the 
law  school  of  Bologna  towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  were  then  further  developed  in  Paris.  The 
title  Doctor  appears  already  before  that  time,  as  also 
that  of  Magister  and  Dominus,  to  signify  the  office  of 
teacher,  but  not  a  special  dignity.  It  was  then  proba 
bly  applied  in  an  emphatic  sense  to  the  most  eminent 
professors,  and  so  passed  over  into  its  technical  meaning. 
There  were  formerly  three  academic  degrees  for  each 
faculty,  that  of  the  bachelor,  (baccalaureua,  or  baccala- 
reus,  of  doubtful  origin,  either  from  bacca  laurea,  or 
from  the  bacuhts,  which  the  graduate  received  as  a  sign 
of  honor,  or  from  the  French  bachelier,)  licentiate,  and 
doctor.  They  looked  originally  to  public  teaching  and 
marked  as  many  steps  in  the  promotion  to  this  office. 

In  England  the  bachelor's  degree  is  still  retained  for 
the  liberal  arts,  the  law  and  divinity.  In  Germany  the 
lower  degrees  have  gone  out  of  use,  except  for  divinity, 
but  the  doctorship  remains  for  each  faculty.  It  may  be 
acquired  after  the  completion  of  the  prescribed  course 
of  professional  studies,  by  a  special  examination,  printed 
dissertation  or  book,  and  public  disputation  conducted 
in  Latin,  and  connected  with  considerable  expense. 


THE  FOUR  FACULTIES.  41 

T  I  v  &  &*"  *  **  • 

The  diploma  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,-  however,  which 
corresponds  somewhat  to  our  Master  of  Afctg^trirtl  :BJS£ 
that  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  can  be  more  easily  secured 
at  least  from  several  smaller  universities. 

Some  years  ago  complaint  was  entered  at  the  Diet  of 
Frankfort,  against  the  traffic  with  the  lower  diplomas, 
which  brings  them  into  disrepute,  and  effectual  measures 
were  taken  to  compel  the  governments  of  the  lesser 
German  States  to  check  it.  The  Prussian  Universities 
adhere  very  scrupulously  to  the  condition  of  a  rigorous 
examination,  and  public  disputation,  and  never  bestow  a 
degree  honoris  causa,  without  sufficient  reason. 

In  theology  there  are  still  two  degrees,  that  of  the 
Licentiate  (corresponding  to  the  English  Bachelor  of 
Divinity,)  which  confers  the  right  of  public  teaching  in  the 
university,  and  that  of  D.  D.  The  latter  is  considered 
the  highest  academic  honor,  and  hence  much  rarer  than 
the  doctor's  diploma  of  any  other  faculty.  It  may  be 
acquired  by  the  regular  process  of  a  written  work  and 
Latin  debate,  in  which  every  member  of  the  university 
can  enter  the  lists  against  the  published  theses  of  the 
candidate ;  but  it  is  now  generally  given  honoris  causa 
as  an  acknowledgment  of  distinguished  literary  merit,  or 
eminent  usefulness  in  the  church. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE    GERMAN    PROFESSORS. 

Ordinary  Professors— Extraordinary  Professors— Privat-doccnten— Mode 
of  Instruction— The  Lecture  System,  its  Merits  and  Defects— The  True 
System. 

WE  must  now  introduce  the  reader  into  the  active 
operation  and  life  of  the  German  universities,  and  point 
out  their  peculiar  excellences  and  defects.  We  com 
mence  with  the  professors  who  direct  and  animate  these 
institutions. 

There  are  three  classes  of  teachers  in  the  universities 
of  Germany. 

1.  The  ordinary  professors,  who  are  regular  members 
of  the  faculty,  receive  a  full  support  from  the  State  in 
dependent  of  the  proceeds  of  their  lectures,  and  can  be 
elected  to  the  academical  senate  and  the  rectorship. 

2.  The    extraordinary   professors   have   no   seat   in 
the  faculty,  nor  in  the  senate,  and  a  smaller  income, 
but  are  generally  promoted  to  a  regular  professorship, 
when  a  vacancy  occurs.     Not  a  few,  however,  remain  in 
this  subordinate  condition  for  life. 

3.  The  private    lecturers,  (privatim    docentes,)  who 
have   passed   through   the   examen  rigorosum,    deliver 
lectures  like  the   regular  professors,  but   are   without 


THE  GERMAN  PROFESSORS.  43 

appointment,  and  receive,  with  a  few  exceptions,  no 
salary  from  the  State.  They  depend,  therefore,  for 
their  support  upon  the  lecture-fees  of  their  hearers,  or 
upon  private  tuition,  or  extra  literary  labor.  Unless 
they  have  means  of  their  own,  or  eminent  popular 
talents,  which  attract  the  students  by  crowds,  and  which 
secure  to  them  sometimes  a  special  appropriation  from 
the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  they  drag  out  a  very 
hard  and  unenviable  existence.  I  know  of  Privat- 
docenten,  who  spent  ten  and  fifteen  years  in  this  lite 
rary  purgatory,  anxiously  waiting  for  a  call,  laboring 
day  and  night,  and  forced  to  resort  to  proof-reading 
and  other  mechanical  work,  to  keep  themselves  from 
literal  starvation.  The  difficulty  is  increased  in  larger 
universities,  where  they  have  to  compete  with  the  most 
celebrated  names  in  all  departments  of  science.  Not  a 
few,  with  all  their  talents,  learning  and  industry,  are 
compelled  at  last,  to  quit  the  academical  career  in  despair, 
while  others  are  so  fortunate  as  to  be  promoted  to  a  pro 
fessorship  after  only  one  or  two  years'  probation. 

Most  of  the  professors  have  to  pass  through  these 
preparatory  stages,  until  they  reach  the  honor  and 
benefit  of  a  regular  or  ordinary  professorship.  Some 
few,  however,  are  called  directly  from  the  ranks  of  the 
ministry,  or  practising  lawyers  and  physicians,  if  they 
distinguish  themselves  by  learned  contributions  to  the 
science  of  their  profession. 

The  number  of  teachers  varies  from  thirty  to  a  hun 
dred  and  fifty,  or  more,  according  to  the  wealth  and 
extent  of  the  institution.  Thus  in  the  year  1853,  the 
university  of  Berlin  numbered  no  less  than  168  teach- 


44  THE  GERMAN  PROFESSORS. 

ers,  (52  ordinary,  41  extraordinary,  7  honorary  profes 
sors,  60  privatim  docentes,  and  8  teachers  of  languages,) 
the  university  of  Vienna  116,  Gb'ttingen  109,  Leipsic 
109,  Munich  94,  Bonn  91,  Heidelberg  91,  Halle  71,  &c. 
One  of  the  most  important  characteristics  of  the  Ger 
man  universities,  is  the  professorial  or  lecture-system, 
as  distinct  from  the  tutorial  system,  which  prevails  in 
England.  Instead  of  a  number  of  colleges  as  in  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  where  the  students  live  together  under 
the  moral  supervision  as  well  as  intellectual  instruction 
of  tutors  and  fellows,  we  have  in  a  German  university 
simply  one  large  building  with  a  number  of  halls  (Hor- 
sale,)  where  the  students  spend  a  part  of  the  day  to 
attend  the  lectures,  if  they  choose.  For  there  is  no 
compulsion  at  all.  The  student  is  entirely  left  to  his 
own  sense  of  duty  and  enjoys  more  freedom  than  he 
ever  can  enjoy  afterwards  in  any  walk  of  life.  Indus 
trious  and  conscientious  students  are,  of  course,  always 
on  the  spot,  and  hear  sometimes  as  many  as  four  or  five 
lectures  a  day.  When  the  clock  strikes,  they  take  their 
seat  in  their  respective  Horsaal,  unfold  their  portfolios 
and  fix  their  ink  horn,  armed  below  with  a  sharp  iron 
spike,  into  the  wooden  desk,  waiting  for  the  learned 
oracle.  After  an  intermission  of  ten  or  fifteen  minutes, 
the  professor  leaves  the  conservatorium,  ascends  the 
rostrum  and  with  the  familiar  address,  "  Meine  Herren !" 
begins  his  lecture  either  standing,  or  sitting,  either  read 
ing  in  full  or  in  part,  or  speaking  extempore.  Some  of 
the  hearers  take  down  in  short-hand  every  word  that 
drops  from  the  mouth  of  living  wisdom,  thinking  with 
the  freshman  in  Goethe's  Faust : 


THE  GERMAN  PROFESSORS.  45 

"  Denn  was  man  schwarz  auf  weiss  besitzt, 
Kann  man  getrost  nach  Ilause  tragen. 

Or  to  quote  another  verse  equally  illustrative  of  the  dif 
ference  between  writing,  and  knowing  a  lecture : 

"  Der  Studio  muss  in's  Collegium, 

Dass  er  die  Wissenschaft  allda  erschnappe, 
Und  ist  der  "Weg  zur  Weisheit  noch  so  krumm, 
Er  tragt  sie  fort  in  seiner  Mappe." 

(For  lectures  sound  the  student's  bound, 

Deep  wisdom  not  to  catch  ill, 
And  when  it's  caught,  his  head  knows  naught, 

It  only  fills  his  satchel.) 

Others  show  their  independence  and  their  contempt 
for  goose-quill-learning  by  simply  listening,  or  noting 
merely  the  general  heads  as  a  guide  for  the  memory. 
The  most  judicious  appropriate  the  lecture  to  their  mind 
as  it  goes  on,  and  reproduce  it  in  a  condensed  form. 
If  the  professor  speaks  indistinctly,  some  show  their 
interest  by  giving  him  a  hint  with  a  motion  of  their  feet 
to  repeat  the  sentence.  But  not  all  professors  pay 
attention  to  this  lingua  pedestris. 

Each  lecture  lasts  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour, 
till  the  clock  gives  its  accustomed  sound,  when  the  pro 
fessor  shuts  his  manuscript,  and  the  students  wipe  their 
pens,  shut  their  inkhorn,  take  their  hat  or  bonnet  and 
portfolio,  and  crowd  to  the  door,  to  return  either  to 
their  lodgings,  or  to  attend  another  lecture. 

This  is  generally  all  the  instruction  in  these  institu 
tions.  In  some  of  them,  however,  for  instance  in  Berlin 
and  Halle,  there  are  what  are  called  JSeminare,  i.  e., 
meetings  in  the  professor's  house,  for  the  explanation 
and  discussion  on  biblical,  and  patristic,  or  classical 


46  THE  GERMAN  PROFESSORS. 

authors,  and  the  composition  of  Latin  prize  essays. 
Thus  Neander  used  to  read  in  this  more  familiar  way 
Tertullian's  Apolegeticus,  Origen's  Commentaries,  and 
De  Principiis,  Augustine's  Confessionea,  Chrysostom 
De  Sacerdotioj  etc.  But  these  meetings  which  are  con 
ducted  in  Latin,  are  attended  only  by  a  few.  In  Tubin 
gen  the  lecture-system  is  supplied  by  weekly  repetitoria 
and  examinatoria  conducted  by  the  Repententen,  who 
may  be  compared  to  the  tutors  or  teaching  Fellows  of 
the  British  universities. 

Until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  uni 
versity-lectures  were  all  delivered  in  Latin,  a  method, 
which  was  very  injurious  to  the  cultivation  of  the  Ger 
man  language.  The  scholars  of  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury  wrote  and  spoke  the  classical,  or  scholastic  Latin 
better  than  their  mother  tongue.  It  is  the  merit  of 
Thomasius,  professor  in  Halle,  to  have  broken  the  way 
for  the  gradual  abolition  of  this  learned  pedantry,  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  national  language  as  a  medium  of 
academic  instruction.  At  present  very  few  lectures  in 
the  German  universities  are  delivered  in  Latin,  while 
this  language  is  still  used,  very  properly,  in  academic 
dissertations,  the  conferring  of  degrees,  and  other  public 
solemnities. 

Text-books  are  very  rarely  used,  except  in  the  uni 
versities  of  Austria,  where  a  despotic  and  pedantic  gov 
ernment  prescribes  them  at  the  expense  of  the  free 
development  of  thought. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  lecture-system  has  great 
advantages  both  for  the  professor  and  the  student.  It 
imposes  a  much  greater  amount  of  labor  upon  the 
teacher  than  the  use  of  text-books.  Only  think  of  the 


THE  GERMAN  PROFESSORS.  47 

trouble  of  writing  one  or  more  learned  lectures  every 
day,  at  least  in  the  beginning  of  the  professorial  career. 
But  it  draws  out,  at  the  same  time,  all  his  mental  powers, 
and  in  this  way  benefits  the  science.  Hence  the  high 
standard  of  scholarship  and  the  marvellous  amount  of 
literary  fertility,  by  which  the  university  professors  of 
Protestant  Germany  surpass  their  colleagues  in  other 
countries.  Most  of  the  classical  and  other  scientific 
text-books  used  in  England  and  in  this  country,  are 
directly  or  indirectly  of  German  origin. 

To  the  student,  this  system  is  generally  the  most  inte 
resting  and  impressive,  and  -best  calculated  to  arouse 
him  to  a  consciousness  of  his  own  individuality  and 
originality.  For  a  professor  is  more  master  of  a  subject 
if  he  has  wrought  it  out  in  his  own  mind,  given  it  a 
peculiar  shape  and  form,  and  reduced  it  to  writing,  and 
will  deliver  and  explain  his  own  production  with  greater 
animation  and  enthusiasm,  than  the  production  of  another 
mind.  The  great  advantage  of  oral  instruction,  and  the 
power  of  the  living  word,  as  compared  with  the  dead 
letter,  is  generally  admitted,  and  shows  itself  to  its  fullest 
extent  in  the  lecture-system,  when  a  science  proceeds  in 
bodily  form  and  clothed  in  living  flesh  and  blood 'from 
the  mind  of  the  professor,  as  the  goddess  of  Wisdom 
from  the  head  of  Jupiter.  But  the  writing  of  the  stu 
dent  also,  although  by  no  means  absolutely  essential,  is 
yet  a  considerable  help.  Those  who  ridicule  the  me 
chanical  use  of  the  pen,  forget  that  the  very  process  of 
writing,  if  accompanied  by  thought,  as  it  always  should 
be,  is  generally  speaking  the  best  method  of  mental 
appropriation  and  digestion. 


48  THE  GERMAN  PROFESSORS. 

But  on  the  other  side,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
German  universities  promote  individuality  of  intellect 
and  fertility  of  opinions  to  an  excess,  which  forms  just 
the  opposite  extreme  to  the  almost  stagnant  steadiness, 
uniformity  and  traditionalism  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
If  the  German  governments  allow  too  little  political 
liberty  to  their  subjects,  the  German  universities  afford 
an  unbounded  freedom  of  thought  and  doctrine  to  the 
professors  and  students.  With  a  rare  amount  of  invalu 
able  learning  and  useful  theories,  they  have  brought 
forth  also  many  fantastic,  absurd,  and  revolutionary 
views  and  systems.  They  have  been  the  hot-houses  of 
rationalism,  skepticism,  and  pantheism,  and  all  sorts  of 
dangerous  novelties. 

The  truth  seems  to  lie  here,  as  elsewhere,  in  the 
middle,  or  rather  in  the  deep  between  two  extremes, 
although  it  may  be  very  difficult  to  fix  the  exact  line 
of  demarcation.  A  model  university  while  affording  the 
widest  field  for  the  cultivation  of  all  sciences,  ought 
never  to  lose  sight  of  the  great  aim  to  benefit  society, 
and  to  train  the  rising  intellects  of  a  nation  for  practical 
usefulness  in  church  and  state.  They  should  reconcile 
the  claims  of  authority  and  freedom,  and  guard  the 
unity  and  harmony  of  truth  as  well  as  the  diversity  and 
universality  of  science.  The  lecture-system  can  be  and 
ought  to  be  combined  with  the  catechetical  mode  of 
instruction,  by  which  the  progress  of  the  student  may  be 
ascertained,  and  the  subject  of  the  lecture  be  more  fully 
explained  and  applied  with  special  regard  to  his  peculiar 
wants  and  his  future  discharge  of  the  active  duties  of 
life. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


THE     GERMAN    STUDENTS. 

Necessary  Preparation — The  Gymnasial  Course — The  Exarnen  Maturi- 
tatis — The  Academic  Freedom — Life,  Manners  and  Habits  of  the  Stu 
dents — Recent  Improvements. 

THE  students  of  the  university  must  have  passed 
through  a  regular  preparatory  course  of  nine  or  ten 
years  in  a  gymnasium,  which  is  generally  divided  into 
nine  or  ten  classes,  and  corresponds  to  our  academies 
and  colleges,  comprising  a  methodical  tutorial  instruc 
tion  in  ancient  and  modern  languages,  mathematics, 
natural  sciences,  geography,  history  and  philosophy. 

Almost  every  large  city  has  one  or  more  such  classi 
cal  schools.  Berlin  alone  numbers  six  gymnasia,  be 
sides  what  are  called  Real,  or  Polytechnic  institutions, 
schools  of  artillery,  military  engineering,  architecture, 
sculpture,  painting,  and  music,  and  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  The  gymnasia  confer  no  degrees,  like  the 
colleges  of  England  and  America,  which  have  retained 
the  scholastic  number  of  four  and  seven  years  for  the 
attainment  of  the  bachelor's  and  master's  diploma.  But 
the  gymnastic  course  terminates  with  the  examen  matu- 
ritatis,  without  which  no  one  can  be  admitted  as  a  regu 
lar  student  to  the  university. 

Other  tests  do  not  exist.  The  German  universities 
5 


50  THE  GERMAN  STUDENTS. 

maintain  the  principle  of  universal  admissibility,  both 
for  those  who  wish  to  teach,  and  for  those  who  wish  to 
learn,  on  the  sole  condition  of  intellectual  capacity. 
There  are  no  sectarian  or  religious  disabilities  as  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  except  for  the  professorships  of 
the  theological  faculty.  Thus  you  may  find  Lutherans, 
Reformed,  Roman  Catholics,  Greeks,  and  even  Jews, 
and  many  foreigners  from  all  countries  of  Europe  and 
America,  amongst  the  students.  There  they  enter  upon 
an  unlimited  field  of  independent  study,  where  they  may 
for  four  or  more  years  carry  on  and  complete  their 
education  for  a  profession,  or  for  a  particular  science, 
or  for  a  professorship  in  any  of  the  faculties,  and  acquire, 
on  examination,  an  academic  degree  from  a  body  of 
masters  in  their  department,  who  alone  are  competent 
to  confer  them  upon  real  merit. 

The  students  have  generally  passed  the  eighteenth  or 
twentieth  year,  when  they  leave  the  gymnasium  and  the 
hackneyed  machinery  of  school  tuition.  Their  final 
examination  and  matriculation  in  the  university,  is  a 
complete  emancipation  from  intellectual  guardianship, 
and  the  commencement  of  an  era  of  perfect  freedom, 
such  as  they  never  enjoy  again  in  subsequent  life.  They 
choose  the  profession,  the  professors,  and  the  lectures ; 
they  may  attend  them  with  scrupulous  regularity,  or 
waste  their  precious  time  in  idleness  and  dissipation. 
They  are  supposed  to  have  attained  such  a  degree  of 
intellectual  and  moral  maturity  as  to  be  fully  able  to 
take  care  of  themselves,  except  in  political  matters,  in 
which  the  German  governments  are  as  illiberal  and  in 
tolerant,  as  they  are  liberal  in  allowing  an  almost 


THE  GERMAN  STUDENTS.  51 

unbounded  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  on  every 
other  subject.  The  only  indirect  compulsion  to  study 
are  the  requisite  examinations  for  the  attainment  of  the 
doctor's  diploma,  or  for  the  active  service  of  church  and 
state.  But  the  strongest  stimulus  to  industry  is  sup 
posed  to  be  a  disinterested,  enthusiastic  love  for  science, 
and  the  highest  culture  of  the  mind. 

The  German  universities  are  not  training  schools, 
like  the  gymnasia,  and  our  American  colleges,  but 
represent  the  unity  and  universality  of  scientific  know 
ledge,  the  arena  for  the  investigation  and  spread  of 
truth ;  and  afford  the  students  the  best  possible  oppor 
tunity  for  prosecuting  their  studies  by  their  own  self- 
educating  abilities,  with  perfect  freedom,  for  any  number 
of  years,  and  to  an  almost  unbounded  extent.  To  many 
a  youth  this  academical  freedom  proves  disastrous ;  but 
as  a  general  rule,  the  German  student  is  proverbial  for 
his  plodding  disposition,  and  his  toilsome,  unwearied 
patience  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

The  number  of  students  in  the  different  universities 
varies  from  three  or  four  hundred  to  two  or  three  thou 
sand.  Those  who  can  at  all  afford  it,  visit  two  or  more 
universities,  and  thus  come  in  living  contact  with  the 
most  distinguished  scholars  of  the  age,  and  acquire  a 
more  universal  culture. 

The  peculiar  dress,  terminology,  manners  and  habits 
by  which  the  German  students  used  to  be  distinguished 
from  every  other  class  of  society,  are  disappearing  more 
and  more,  especially  in  the  larger  cities,  as  Berlin, 
Munich  and  Vienna,  where  they  are  lost  in  the  mass  of 
the  population.  The  "  Burschenschaften"  have  been 


52  THE  GERMAN  STUDENTS. 

mostly  dissolved,  as  hotbeds  of  political  agitation  and 
revolution.  Still  there  remains  a  great  deal  of  origi 
nality  and  peculiar  attraction  about  the  German  uni 
versity  life.  Some  English  travellers,  such  as  Russell, 
Laing,  and  Talfourd,  were  rather  repulsed  by  it,  while 
William  Howitt,  and  others,  from  longer  observation, 
have  described  it  favorably. 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  drinking,  duel  fighting, 
(although  the  latter  is  strictly  prohibited  by  the  authori 
ties,)  and  other  lawless  and  vulgar  habits  still  disgrace 
several  of  these  learned  institutions,  especially  in  smaller 
towns,  as  Jena  and  Giessen,  where  the  students  have  the 
citizens,  or  "  Philistines,"  as  they  call  them,  under  their 
control.  But  if  we  make  proper  allowance  for  the  dif 
ference  of  national  genius  and  taste,  they  lose  nothing 
by  a  comparison  with  the  students  of  Oxford  and  Cam 
bridge,  while  in  industry  they  generally  surpass  them. 

"A  German  student,"  says  a  recent  English  writer 
in  the  Dublin  University  Magazine,  "  does  not  feather 
his  oar  in  a  university  boat  on  regatta  day  ;  he  does  not 
kick  the  foot-ball  on  Parker's  piece ;  he  does  not  skil 
fully  take  the  balls  at  a  cricket  match.  These  gentle 
pastimes  would  not  satisfy  his  bolder  and  noisier  dispo 
sition.  His  thoughts  are  more  excitable  and  somewhat 
enthusiastic.  His  manners  are  more  cordial  and  unre 
served.  His  appearance  and  demeanor  are  less  aristo 
cratic.  Yet  he  is  well  bred,  spirited  and  high-minded ; 
he  is  frank  and  open  ;  a  faithful  friend,  and  an  eccentric 
lover  of  his  Vaterland.  He  is  a  sworn  enemy  to  all  false 
hood  and  all  deceit.  Peculiar  notions  of  honor,  and  a 
deep  love  of  independence  and  liberty,  belong  to  his 


THE  GERMAN  STUDENTS.  53 

most  deep-rooted  principles.  Song  and  music,  social 
parties,  convivial  fetes,  a  martial,  undaunted  spirit,  and 
excitement  of  the  patriotic  feelings,  throw  over  his  life 
an  enchantment  which  gilds  it  yet  in  all  his  later  recol 
lections." 

The  students  live  not  in  one  building,  as  is  generally 
the  case  in  our  colleges,  but  scattered  through  the  town. 
They  spend  from  two  to  five  hours  every  day  in  the  lec 
ture  rooms  of  the  university  hall,  and  the  rest  of  the 
time  in  reading  and  writing  at  home,  or  in  intercourse 
with  their  fellow  students.  The  majority,  especially  the 
"  foxes,"  as  the  freshmen  are  called,  join  one  of  the 
clubs,  or  associations  for  social  enjoyment  after  true 
student's  fashion.  The  members  generally  wear,  or  used 
to  wear,  peculiar  colors  on  their  caps,  flags,  and  breast- 
bands,  are  regularly  organized,  and  meet  on  special 
days  at  a  particular  inn,  or  private  room.  There  they 
sit  around  oblong  tables,  in  the  best  of  humor,  drinking, 
smoking  and  singing,  at  the  top  of  their  clear,  strong 
voices,  "  Gaudeamus  igitur,"  or  "Was  ist  des  Deut- 
schen  Vaterland,"or  "  Wirhattengebauet,"or,  "Stimmt 
an  mit  hellem  hohem  Klang,"  or  "  Freiheit,  die  ich 
meine,"  or  "  Es  zogen  drei  Bursche  wohl  liber  den 
Rhein,"  or  "  Wohlauf  noch  getrunken  den  funkelnden 
Wein."  They  discuss  the  merits  of  their  professors, 
and  sweet-hearts ;  they  consult  about  a  serenade  to  a 
favorite  teacher,  or  about  a  joke  to  be  practised  upon 
some  sordid  "Philister"  or  landlord;  they  make  patri 
otic  speeches  on  the  prospects  of  the  German  father 
land;  they  pour  out  their  heart  in  an  unbroken  suc 
cession  of  affection  and  merriment,  pathos  and  humor, 

5* 


54  THE  GERMAN  STUDENTS. 

wit  and  sarcasm,  pun  and  taunt ;  they  smoke  and  puff, 
they  sing  and  laugh  and  talk  till  midnight,  and  feel  as 
happy  as  the  fellows  in  Auerbach's  cellar  in  Gothe's 
Faust. 

I  wish  the  great  temperance  apostle,  John  B.  Gough, 
would  go  to  Germany  and  convince  these  merry  stu 
dents  that  the  beer  and  wine  goblets  are  by  no  means 
essential  to  a  feast  of  reason  and  flow  of  soul,  and  that 
their  absence  would  save  them  the  "  Katzenjammer"  on 
the  next  day,  and  a  heap  of  trouble  beside.  But  they 
would  probably  meet  him  with  the  authority  of  the 
great  Reformer,  who,  among  many  other  unguarded 
things,  said: 

"  Who  does  not  love  wife,  wine  and  song, 
Remains  a  fool  his  whole  life  long." 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  all  German 
students  take  part  in  these  noisy  enjoyments.  The  more 
serious  amongst  them  live  either  in  almost  ascetic  retire 
ment,  or  confine  themselves  to  friends  of  strict  morality, 
literary  taste  and  close  application. 

We  must  also  add  that  the  noisy,  boisterous  and  semi- 
savage  spirit  of  the  old  Landsmannschqften,  and  more 
recent  BurschenscJiaft  is  fast  dying  away.  Not  only 
have  the  governments  dissolved  the  political  clubs,  which 
drew  the  students  from  their  proper  avocation  into  the 
whirlpool  of  political  agitation  and  revolution,  but  the 
traditional  Burschen-comment,  with  all  its  ludicrous  ap 
pendages,  is  beginning  to  fall  into  disrepute  among 
the  students  themselves.  The  present  generation  of 
Burschen  is  a  more  refined  class  of  men  ;  they  have  ex- 


THE  GERMAN  STUDENTS.  55 

changed  the  gauntlet  for  a  pair  of  kids,  the  sword  or 
rapier  for  a  riding-whip  or  walking-stick,  and  it  is  no 
more  an  honor  to  besot  one's  self  with  beer  and  tobacco, 
and  to  provoke  duels.  The  students  of  Berlin,  Bonn  and 
other  universities  have  taken  effectual  measures  to  eradi 
cate  the  barbarous  custom  of  duelling,  by  establishing 
Ehrengerichte,  or  a  student's  jury,  before  which  quarrels 
may  be  peacefully  settled. 


CHAPTER    V. 


UNIVERSITY     REFORM. 

Object  of  Proposed  Reforms — Restriction  of  the  Liberty  of  Teaching — 
Closer  Union  with  the  Church— The  claims  of  the  Lutheran  Party- 
Advantages  of  the  Academic  Liberty — The  Inner  Mission  in  the  Uni 
versities— Hun  deshagen's  View  on  the  Subject— A  word  on  American 
Universities. 

As  in  England,  so  also  in  Germany,  the  subject  of 
University  reform  has  been  agitated  with  a  good  deal 
of  interest  for  the  last  few  years.  But  while  in  the 
former  country  the  object  of  the  reformers  is  to  liberal 
ize  the  constitution  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  to  throw 
them  open  to  dissenters  as  well  as  churchmen,  and  to 
engraft  upon  them  the  professorial  system  of  the  Ger 
man  .universities,  we  perceive  in  Germany  the  opposite 
tendency,  to  make  them  more  directly  subservient  to  the 
practical  interests  of  the  church  and  the  state.  This 
is  especially  the  case  since  the  Revolutions  of  1848,  in 
which  the  students  of  Berlin,  Vienna,  etc.,  took  a  pro 
minent  part  as  champions  of  democracy  and  red  repub 
licanism.  The  modern  reaction  in  politics  and  religion 
looks*  with  a  jealous  eye  upon  the  almost  unbounded 
freedom  of  the  German  university  system. 

Thus  the  strict  Lutheran  party,  headed  by  Dr.  Petri, 
in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover,  is  at  present  engaged  in  a 


UNIVERSITY  REFORM.  57 

war  \vith  the  excellent  theological  faculty  of  Gottingen, 
and  charge  them  with  a  want  of  confessional  orthodoxy. 
They  insist  upon  the  election  of  such  professors  which  are 
acceptable  to  the  church  as  represented  by  the  clergy, 
which  is  becoming  more  and  more  exclusively  Lutheran, 
Dr.  Kliefoth,  of  Mecklenburg,  has  fallen  in  with  this 
movement.  Dr.  Hengstenberg  and  the  present  minister 
of  public  worship  in  Prussia,  Herr  von  Raumer,  seem  to 
sympathize  with  it  likewise,  and  show  a  disposition  to 
restrain  the  academic  liberty  of  teaching. 

To  an  American,  nothing  seems  to  be  more  natural 
and  just,  than  that  the  church  should  have  a  vote  in 
the  election  of  the  theological  professors,  who  are  to 
train  ministers.  It  seems  a  perfect  monstrosity  that 
such  thorough  rationalists,  as  Paulus  and  Wegscheider, 
or  a  pantheist  as  Baur,  should  hold  a  place  in  a  theolo 
gical  faculty  of  the  Evangelical  Church. 

But  on  the  other  side,  the  liberty  of  teaching  is  one 
of  the  chief  excellences  of  the  German  universities, 
and  accounts  for  their  extraordinary  literary  and  scien 
tific  fertility.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  theo 
logical  faculties  of  that  country  have  after  all  a  more 
comprehensive  vocation,  than  a  mere  seminary  for  the 
training  of  preachers.  They  ought  to  cultivate  and 
promote  the  sacred  sciences  in  the  most  thorough  and 
liberal  manner,  but  of  course  for  the  edification,  and  not 
for  the  destruction  of  the  church.  In  proportion  as  the 
religious  life  gains  ground,  such  anomalies  as  we  alluded 
to  above,  will  disappear,  as  has  been  the  case  already  to 
a  great  extent  within  the  last  twenty  years ;  and  the 
theological  faculties  will  assume  their  normal  relation  to 
the  church.  The  state  authorities,  too,  will  naturally, 


58  UNIVERSITY  REFORM. 

or  ought  certainly  to  respect  public  opinion,  and  elect 
men  who  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  religious  com 
munity. 

From  a  different  point  of  view  Dr.  Hundeshagen,  him 
self  a  theological  professor,  of  Heidelberg,  has  treated 
the  question  of  university  reform  in  a  very  interesting 
paper  on  "  Inner  mission  in  the  university,"  read,  by 
appointment,  in  a  special  conference  of  the  Seventh 
German  Evangelical  Church  Diet  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Maine,  in  1854.  He  proposes  no  alteration  in  the  con 
stitution  of  these  great  establishments,  and  no  restriction 
of  their  free  action,  but  the  infusion  of  a  decidedly  Chris 
tian  spirit  into  their  officers  and  operation.  He  charges 
the  average  culture  of  the  educated  classes  in  Germany 
with  a  sort  of  Rousseauism,  or  a  false  humanitarianism, 
which  makes  man,  instead  of  God,  the  centre  and  chief 
object  of  study  and  pursuit ;  loses  sight  of  the  superna 
tural  and  eternal  order  of  things,  and  ends  at  last  in  a 
refined  materialism.  Another  charge  is,  the  frequent 
separation  of  the  scientia  from  the  conscientia,  and  the 
over  estimation  of  the  intellectual  powers  of  man  to  the 
neglect  of  his  moral  and  practical  interests.  Hence  the 
reproachful  terms,  professor's  wisdom,  book-learning, 
unpractical  speculation,  so  often  applied  to  German 
scholars.  There  are  not  a  fewr,  who  will  take  the  deep 
est  interest  in  the  most  trifling  scientific  question,  and 
write  large  volumes  on  the  difference  between  two  Greek 
particles,  and  be  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  national 
welfare  and  the  great  social  problems  of  the  age. 

Hundeshagen  quotes  with  approbation  a  sentence  of 
the  late  Dr.  Thomas  Arnold,  who  knew  how  to  appre 
ciate  German  learning  :  "  The  German  scholars  present 


UNIVERSITY  REFORM.  59 

us  many  examples  of  a  one-sided  literary  industry,  which 
transcends  the  proper  limits,  without  real  universality 
and  thorough  training  to  a  truly  manly,  national  and 
Christian  character."  He  concludes  his  excellent  sug 
gestions  with  the  words :  "  Let  us  not  be  ashamed,  re 
spected  colleagues,  of  our  title,  Professors.  There  is  in 
it  a  significant  admonition.  Professores  dicimur  apro- 
fitendo.  Let  us  beware,  lest  it  may  be  said  of  us  : 
Lucus  a  non  lucendo,  professor  a  non  profitendo  !  But 
proftteri,  you  all  know,  does  not  mean  to  make  profit, 
nor  to  make  an  empty  profession,  but  to  profess  the  truth 
under  all  circumstances,  to  be  faithful  to  the  truth,  and 
to  suffer  for  it,  if  it  be  God's  will.  Hence  let  our  motto 
be:  Profiteri,  veritatem  profiteri,  Christum  pro  fiteri  !" 

If  this  spirit  should  pervade  all  the  professors  of  the 
German  universities,  they  would  soon  be  reformed  with 
out  any  organic  changes  of  their  constitution. 

In  this  connection  we  may  say  a  few  words  on  the 
transfer  of  the  German  university  system  to  American 
soil,  which  has  been  recently  advocated  by  some  of  our 
most  distinguished  scholars. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  our  college  system 
is  incomplete,  and  that  we  ought  to  have  institutions  of 
the  first  order  which  deserve  the  name  of  universities  in 
the  full  and  proper  sense  of  the  term.  I  have  no  doubt, 
that  the  time  is  not  distant,  when  this  great  country  will 
be  able  to  compete  with  any  country  on  the  globe  in 
every  branch  of  education. 

As  regards  the  organization  of  these  universities, 
however,  we  would  by  no  means  advocate  a  slavish  copy 
of  the  German  institutions,  but  such  a  modification  and 
adaptation  of  them  to  the  peculiar  genius  of  our  country, 


60  UNIVERSITY  REFORM. 

as  to  give  them  a  truly  national  American  character, 
and  to  mark  a  real  progress  in  the  history  of  university 
education. 

It  has  been  proposed  already  to  establish  such  an  in 
stitution  in  the  city  of  New  York.  But  one  would,  of 
course,  not  be  sufficient  for  such  an  immense  country  as 
this.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  need  at  least  as  many  as 
we  have  states  and  territories.  Let  each  respectable 
city  have  one  or  more  academies  and  colleges,  and  let 
each  state  found  a  university,  to  which  the  colleges  will 
be  preparatory  schools  like  the  German  gymnasia. 
These  universities  ought  to  be  laid  out  on  the  largest 
scale,  liberally  endowed  and  supported  by  annual  grants 
of  the  states,  and  be  accessible  to  all  denominations. 
Thus  our  national  education  system,  which  has  made 
such  rapid  progress  of  late,  would  find  its  natural  and 
necessary  completion. 

If  the  state  legislatures  are  unwilling  to  do  this 
work,  the  leading  churches,  or  private  individuals  should 
take  it  in  hand.  This  would,  perhaps,  be  more  in  keep 
ing  with  the  genius  of  our  country,  where  individual 
energy  and  enterprise  have  such  a  prominence  and  un 
bounded  field  of  action,  and  would  infuse  at  the  same 
time  a  religious  spirit  into  those  institutions,  without 
which,  they  cannot  be  expected  permanently  to  nourish 
and  to  accomplish  much  good  for  the  highest  interests 
of  society. 

We  have  princely,  or  rather  republican  munificence 
enough  to  carry  out  such  noble  projects.  James  Smith- 
son,  an  Englishman,  bequeathed  the  bulk  of  his  large 
fortune  to  the  United  States,  for  the  establishment  of 
an  institution  at  Washington,  "  for  the  increase  and  dif- 


UNIVERSITY  REFORM.  61 

fusion  of  knowledge  among  men."  John  Jacob  Astor, 
who  came  a  poor  boy  from  Germany,  and  died  the  rich 
est  man  in  America,  devoted  in  his  will  half  a  million  of 
dollars  to  the  founding  of  a  library  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  which  is  an  ornament  to  that  city.  Stephen 
Girard,  a  native  of  France,  left  two  millions  for  a  col 
lege  of  poor  boys  in  Philadelphia,  and  thus  immortal 
ized  his  name.  Peter  Cooper,  a  native  American  mer 
chant,  is  now  erecting,  in  New  York,  an  institution  for 
the  promotion  of  the  arts,  sciences,  literature  and  gene 
ral  knowledge  among  both  sexes,  at  an  expense  of  not 
less  than  half  a  million,  which  he  gives  in  the  vigor  of 
life,  and  not  with  the  stiffened  hand  of  bequest.  "  An 
act  like  this,"  says  the  distinguished  Dr.  Francis  Lieber, 
in  his  Lecture  on  Athenaeums,  "  is  an  event  and  belongs 
to  history ;  otherwise  it  might  be  indelicate  to  state  that 
the  mentioned  sum  is  not  the  tithe,  but  the  third  or 
fourth  part  of  the  wealth  which  the  generous  donor's 
own  industry  has  accumulated  with  the  blessings  of  Pro 
vidence.  Nor  are  to  him  the  words  of  wife  and  chil 
dren  mere  terms,  without  the  thrilling  directness  of 
reality." 

Should  not  wealthy  American  Christians,  native,  or 
foreign  born,  animated  by  a  higher  principle  than  mere 
natural  philanthropy  and  noble  ambition,  regard  it  a 
privilege  to  imitate,  or  rather  to  excel  such  liberality, 
by  founding  universities,  not  only  for  the  cultivation  of 
all  human  sciences  and  arts,  but  at  the  same  time  for  a 
still  greater  and  more  enduring  end,  the  promotion  of 
the  glory  of  God  ? 
6 


CHAPTER    VI. 


BERLIN. 

The  Prussian  Universities  —  Berlin — Its  Distinguished  Professors,  and 
other  Literary  Celebrities— Alexander  Von  Humboldt — The  New  Mu 
seum — The  Egyptian  Antiquities — Kaulbach's  Historical  Pictures — The 
Destruction  of  Jerusalem — The  Pulpit  and  Christianity  in  Berlin — The 
Religious  Destitution  compared  \vith  America — Recent  Improvement 
and  Progress. 

To  this  general  description  of  the  character,  organi 
zation  and  active  operation  of  the  academic  institutions 
of  Germany,  we  must  add  sketches  of  those  universities 
which  enjoy  the  widest  reputation  and  have  most  attrac 
tion  for  the  theological  student,  or  suggest  such  other 
literary  and  religious  information  as  may  be  interesting 
to  our  readers. 

To  an  American,  who  wishes  to  complete  his  liberal 
and  professional  education  in  Germany,  we  would  recom 
mend  to  devote  the  winter  to  Berlin,  and  to  divide  the 
summer  between  Bonn  and  Heidelberg.  If  he  has 
another  year  to  spare,  he  may  profitably  spend  the  cold 
season  at  Halle,  Leipzic,  Munich,  or  Vienna,  and  the 
warm  season  at  Gottingen,  Tubingen  and  Zurich. 

We  commence  with  Prussia,  which  embodies  more  sci 
entific  and  general  literary  intelligence  than  any  monarchy 
in  Europe,  France  or  England  not  excepted,  and  takes 


BERLIN.  63 

the  lead  in  almost  every  department  of  mental  culture. 
Of  the  six  Prussian  universities,  Berlin,  Halle  and  Bonn 
stand  highest,  and  deserve  a  special  notice  in  this  place. 

The  university  of  Berlin,  although  one  of  the  young 
est,  occupies  the  first  rank  of  all  similar  institutions  in 
Germany  not  only,  but  in  the  world.  It  numbers  gene 
rally  from  160  to  180  professors  and  teachers,  from 
1800  to  2200  students,  and  its  semi-annual  Index  Lec- 
tionum  fills  from  40  to  50  quarto  pages.  The  profes 
sors  are  selected  from  all  parts  of  Germany,  and  a 
considerable  number  of  the  students  belong  to  foreign 
nations  and  countries,  as  Switzerland,  France,  Russia, 
Greece,  Great  Britain,  and  America. 

This  great  institution  was  founded  in  1810,  at  the 
time  of  the  deepest  humiliation  of  Prussia,  and  became 
one  of  the  means  of  her  intellectual,  moral  and  national 
regeneration,  which  resulted  in  the  victorious  emanci 
pation  from  the  yoke  of  the  French  conqueror.  En 
lightened  statesmen  like  Freiherr  von  Stein,  and  Wilhelm 
von  Humboldt,  and  distinguished  scholars  like  Wolf, 
Fichte,  Schleiermacher,  took  part  in  its  first  organiza 
tion.  King  Frederick  William  III.,  assigned  for  its  use 
an  extensive  and  magnificent  building  in  the  finest  and 
most  interesting  portion  of  the  city,  on  the  broad  and 
imposing  promenade  Unter-den-Linden,  which  leads  to 
the  large  park,  and  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
the  royal  palaces,  the  old  and  new  museum,  the  public 
library  of  600,000  volumes,  the  academy  of  sciences  and 
arts,  the  arsenal  and  the  dome.  He  favored  it  with  rich 
endowments  and  many  privileges,  which  his  successor, 
Frederick  William  IV.,  an  enthusiastic  patron  of  litera- 


G4  BERLIN. 

ture,  art,  and  religion,  greatly  increased.  From  the 
advantages  of  its  location  in  the  capital  of  Prussia  and 
northern  Germany,  from  the  large  number  of  literary 
institutions,  libraries,  museums  and  societies  of  every  de 
scription  which  are  collected  there,  and  above  all  from  a 
rare  union  of  the  highest  talents  in  all  the  faculties,  it  soon 
became  the  metropolis  of  German  science  and  learning. 

The  very  first  masters  in  almost  every  department  of 
literature  have  taught  in  the  university  of  Berlin  either 
together,  or  in  succession  from  its  beginning  to  the  pre 
sent  time,  and  form  a  more  brilliant  galaxy  of  names 
than  ever  adorned  any  similar  institution  during  the 
same  period  of  years. 

Schleiermacher,  unquestionably  the  most  gifted  divine 
of  modern  Protestanism,  Neander,  the  "father  of  Church 
History,"  Tholuck,  Hengstenberg,  Marheineke,  De 
Wette,  Twesten,  Nitzsch,  Theremin,  Strauss,  filled  at 
one  time,  or  are  still  filling  the  theological  chairs. 
Fichte,  Hegel,  and  Schelling,  the  three  greatest  meta 
physicians  of  the  century,  unfolded  their  new  systems 
of  thought  to  admiring  audiences,  while  the  equally 
genial  Steffens  introduced  the  students  into  the  myste 
ries  of  nature,  and  the  beautiful  harmony  of  philosophy 
and  poetry.  Savigny,  the  head  of  the  historical  school 
of  jurisprudence,  Heffter,  Puchta,  Keller,  Richter,  Stahl, 
excel  as  teachers  and  writers  on  the  various  branches  of 
law.  Lachmann,  of  honored  memory,  Boeckh,  and  Bek- 
ker,  the  eminent  classical  philologists  and  critics ;  the 
brothers  Grimm,  who  are  regarded  as  the  first  authori 
ties  in  ancient  Teutonic  learning ;  Bopp,  the  best  San 
scrit  scholar ;  Lepsius,  the  Egyptian  traveller  and  an- 


BEHLIN. 


tiquarian,  expound  the  stores  of  heathen  literature  and 
antiquities.  Raumer,  and  Ranke,  both  well  known  be 
yond  the  limits  of  Germany  and  Europe,  teach  ancient 
and  modern  history.  Carl  Ritter,  the  founder  of  histo 
rical  and  philosophical  geography,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  venerable  Christian  gentleman,  explains  the  surface 
of  the  globe  in  its  relation  to  the  character  and  condi 
tion  of  its  inhabitants,  and  to  the  progress  of  civil  and 
religious  society.  Encke  measures  the  course  of  the 
wandering  stars,  one  of  which  bears  his  name.  Muller, 
Ehrenberg,  Dove,  Rose,  Weiss,  Schonlein,  adorn  with 
their  distinguished  reputation  the  various  branches  of 
natural  and  medical  sciences. 

Besides  the  regular  members  of  the  university,  there 
are  in  Berlin  quite  a  number  of  celebrated  scholars  and 
authors,  who  move  in  the  professorial  circles,  and  belong 
to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  which  adjoins  the  university 
buildings. 

Of  these,  I  need  only  mention  Alexander  von  Hum- 
boldt,  the  world-renowned  patriarch  of  natural  sciences, 
the  intellectual  mirror  of  the  physical  cosmos,  the  living 
wonder  of  the  age.  In  his  eighty-seventh  year — for 
he  was  born  in  1769,  the  same  year  with  Napoleon 
and  Wellington,  and  within  a  few  months  of  the 
elder  Schleiermacher,  and  the  younger  Hegel — he  still 
speaks  and  writes  with  the  freshness  of  youth  and 
the  vigor  of  manhood,  and  seems  to  defy  the  wast 
ing  power  of  time  upon  the  mortal  frame.  He  never 
was  married  but  to  science.  He  talks  with  the  same 
rapidity  and  fullness  of  information  as  ever,  reads  and 
answers  some  four  thousand  letters  annually;  dines 

6* 


66  BERLIN. 

almost  daily  with  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  performs, 
contrary  to  the  wishes  of  his  royal  friend,  the  duties  of 
chamberlain  in  his  turn,  refusing  the  indulgence  of  a 
chair ;  he  is  incessant  in  polite  attention  to  friends  and 
distinguished  strangers  during  the  day,  and  spends  the 
half  of  the  night  in  severe  scientific  labor,  allowing  his 
body  only  a  few  hours  of  rest. 

What  a  melancholy  reflection  that  such  a  master  of 
all  the   mysteries  of  nature,  the   daily  companion  of  a 
pious  king,  and  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  a  kind-hearted, 
benevolent  and  amiable  gentleman  of  the  highest  finish, 
should  like   Germany's  greatest  poet,   Gothe,   content 
himself  with  the  wonders  of  nature  without  rising  to 
nature's   God,   and   remain   indifferent  to  the    greater 
mysteries  of  grace.     I  may  do  him  injustice,  but  I  can 
not  remember  now  to  have  read  even  the  name  of  God- 
not  to  speak  of  Christ — in  the  three  volumes  so  far  pub 
lished  of  his  Cosmos,  except  in  an  approving  quotation 
from  a  lost  work  of  the  heathen  Aristotle,  as  preserved 
by  the  heathen  Cicero,  (de  natura  Deorum,  ii.  37.)    We 
mean  the  sublime  passage  that  puts  to  shame  many  a 
nominally  Christian  philosopher:   "Nobly    does    Aris 
totle  observe,  that  if  there  were  beings  who  had  always 
lived  under  ground,  in  convenient,  nay,  magnificent  dwell 
ings,  adorned  with  statues  and  pictures  and  everything 
which  belongs  to  prosperous  life  ;  if,  then,  these  beings 
should  be  told  of  the  being  and  power  of  the  gods,  and 
should  come  up  through  open  fissures  from  their  secret 
abodes  to  the  places  which  we  inhabit ;  if  they  should 
suddenly  behold  the  starry  heavens,  the  changing  moon, 
the  rising  and  setting  of  the  stars,  and  their  eternally 


BERLIN.  67 

ordained  and  unchangeable  courses ;  they  would  exclaim 
with  truth :  There  are  gods,  and  such  great  things  are 
their  works." 

How  much  is  it  to  be  desired  that  this  truly  remark 
able  man,  before  closing  his  unrivalled  scientific  career, 
should  bow  down  in  child-like  adoration  and  faith  before 
that  one  and  true  God  whose  living  presence  alone  gives 
strength,  order  and  beauty  to  the  works  of  his  hand, 
and  whose  glory  shines  from  the  starry  heavens  above 
us,  from  the  solid  earth  beneath  us,  and  from  the  rational 
will  within  us,  from  the  book  of  nature,  and  the  book  of 
history,  but  brightest  of  all  from  the  book  of  books,  and 
the  face  of  his  only  begotten  Son,  full  of  grace  and  of 
truth. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  from  our  immediate  purpose 
to  enter  into  a  detailed  account  of  the  other  literary 
institutions,  collections  and  curiosities,  which  give  addi 
tional  interest  to  Berlin  and  make  it  one  of  the  most 
instructive  residences  to  the  scholar.  We  will  only 
direct  attention  to  the  New  Museum,  erected  by  the 
present  king,  which,  when  completed,  will  even  surpass 
in  interest  the  far-famed  Pinacotheca  and  Glyptotheca 
of  Munich,  the  German  Rome  both  in  point  of  art  and 
religion.  It  contains  among  other  curiosities,  one  of  the 
richest  collections  of  Egyptian  antiquities,  arranged  in 
the  very  best  order  under  the  direction  of  Lepsius  and 
Erbkam,  the  celebrated  Egyptian  travellers,  and  furnish 
ing,  in  connection  with  architectural  imitations,  hiero 
glyphics  and  frescoes  on  the  wall,  the  most  graphic  and 
instructive  picture  of  the  social,  religious,  and  political 
life  of  that  land  of  mysteries.  There  you  may  find  also 


68  BERLIN. 

copies  of  the  master-pieces  of  sculpture  of  all  ages  in 
chronological  order,  so  as  to  give  you  a  complete  view 
of  the  history  of  this  art.  But  the  chief  attraction  of 
the  New  Museum  are  the  magnificent  stereochromic 
frescoes  of  the  living  painter,  Wilhelm  von  Kaulbach, 
representing  the  great  epochs  of  the  history  of  man 
kind,  the  Fall  of  Babel,  the  Spring  of  Greece,  the  De 
struction  of  Jerusalem,  the  Battle  of  the  Huns,  the  Con 
version  of  the  Saxon  Duke  Wittekind,  the  Crusades,  etc., 
several  of  which  are  not  yet  finished.  These  composi 
tions,  in  our  humble  judgment,  are  unrivalled  among 
the  creations  of  modern  art,  and  hardly  surpassed  by 
the  master-pieces  of  Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael. 

Kaulbach's  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  especially,  is  con 
ceived  and  executed  in  the  grandest  style,  arid  makes  an 
overpowering  impression,  like  a  tragic  poem,  or  a  solemn 
sermon  on  the  judgment  day.  It  is  fully  as  sublime  and 
terrific,  as  Michael  Angelo's  famous  "Last  Judgment," 
in  the  Sistine  chapel  of  the  Vatican,  without  being  over 
charged,  or  offending  in  the  least  against  refined  taste. 
The  central  group  presents  the  Jewish  high  priest  before 
the  altar,  thrusting  the  dagger  through  the  golden  breast 
plate,  and  supporting  with  the  other  arm  his  dying  chil 
dren  ;  his  wife  imploring  him  to  point  the  deadly  weapon 
to  her  own  heart ;  while  around  him  the  Levites  mourn, 
or  destroy  themselves  amid  the  scattered  treasures  of 
the  burning  temple,  and  men,  women  and  children, 
frantic  with  hunger,  eating  their  own  flesh,  furious, 
scornful,  cursing,  praying,  desponding,  despairing,  are 
flying  and  lying  about  in  wildest  confusion.  Above  this 
fearful  tragedy  of  agony,  famine  and  despair,  sit  the  four 


BERLIN.  69 

great  prophets  upon  the  clouds  of  heaven,  in  silent  adora 
tion  of  God's  righteous  judgment  so  long  foretold  in  their 
books  of  prophecy,  but  disregarded  by  the  wicked  race 
that  nailed  the  Saviour  to  the  shameful  cross.  In  the 
right  corner  above,  the  Roman  Titus  with  his  heathen  sol 
diers,  is  seen  victoriously  approaching  as  the  unconscious 
instrument  for  the  execution  of  Jehovah's  wrath.  The 
left  group  below,  exhibits  the  impersonation  of  unbeliev 
ing  Judaism  in  the  revolting  figure  of  the  Wandering  Jew, 
lacerating  his  naked  breast,  driven  on  by  three  demons 
into  the  dark  future,  wishing  to  die,  but  never  dying 
till  Christ  shall  return  to  the  final  judgment,  of  which 
this  destruction  of  Jerusalem  is  the  type.  The  right 
group  below  forms  a  most  beautiful  contrast  to  this  awful 
scene,  by  presenting  a  happy  Christian  family,  who,  in 
obedience  to  a  divine  monition,  depart  with  hymns  of 
praise,  the  open  Bible,  the  cup  of  salvation,  the  palm  of 
peace,  from  the  devoted  city,  under  the  direction  of  three 
guardian  angels,  to  the  safe  refuge  beyond  the  Jordan. 

Berlin  is  the  centre  of  the  government,  and  the  eccle 
siastical  movements  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Prus 
sia.  Of  these  I  will  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  I  will 
only  remark  here,  that  the  city  presents  the  dark  as  well 
as  the  bright  sight  of  German  Christianity.  It  is  true, 
large  cities  all  over  the  world  combine  the  very  worst 
with  the  best  elements  of  the  country  they  represent, 
and  even  of  London  and  New  York,  with  all  their 
churches,  may  be  literally  said  what  Tacitus  charges 
upon  ancient  Rome,  "  quo  cuncta  undique  atrocia 
aut  pudenda  confluunt  celebranturque."  But  the  reli 
gious  statistics  of  Berlin  are  especially  humiliating  even 


70  BERLIN. 

if  compared  with  other  German  cities,  as  Elberfeld, 
or  Stuttgart,  not  to  speak  of  London,  Edinburgh, 
Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  American 
reader  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  Prussian 
capital  contains  only  about  forty  churches  for  a  popu 
lation  of  nearly  half  a  million,  that  of  this  half  a  mil 
lion  not  more  than  30  or  40,000  are  supposed  to  be 
regular  attendants  on  public  worship ;  though  all  chil 
dren  must  be  baptized  and  confirmed  by  order  of  the 
State;  and  that  God's  holy  Sabbath,  that  "pearl  of 
days,"  that  "  emblem  of  eternal  rest,"  is  almost  as 
much  disregarded  and  desecrated  there  as  in  Paris. 
In  view  of  these  painful  facts,  Prussian  Christians 
may  well  cover  their  face,  while  American  Christians 
may  learn  to  prize,  in  profound  gratitude  to  God, 
their  glorious  privilege  of  a  quiet  Sabbath,  with  its 
solemn  services  in  thousands  of  well  attended  churches, 
erected  and  supported  not  by  the  cold  step-motherly  arm 
of  a  nominally  Christian  State,  but  by  the  voluntary  con 
tributions  of  a  free  Christian  people.  Although  I  knew 
these  facts  long  since,  I  felt  them  more  sensibly  than 
ever,  when,  two  or  three  years  ago,  I  visited  Berlin 
again,  and  could  compare  it  in  this  respect,  from  per 
sonal  observation,  with  our  American  cities. 

But  on  the  other  side  we  must  remember,  that  Berlin 
with  the  neighboring  Potsdam,  the  Prussian  Versailles, 
was  once  the  residence  of  the  all-powerful  Frederick  II., 
and  the  fiendish  scoffer,  Voltaire ;  that  it  became  the 
stronghold  of  German  infidelity;  and  that  only  fifty 
years  ago  hardly  an  evangelical  sermon  was  heard  from 
its  pulpits. 


BERLIN.  71 

Compared  with  this  state  of  things  a  great  and  sur 
prising  change  has  taken  place  in  Berlin,  although  it 
has  not  jet  penetrated  the  mass  of  the  population.    The 
present  king,  whatever  may  be  his  defects  as  a  political 
ruler,  is  as  decided  a  believer  in  Christianity,  as  Frede 
rick  II.  was  an  unbeliever,  and  encourages  every  Chris 
tian  enterprise.     Many  of  the  first  noblemen,  statesmen, 
members  of  the  Chambers,  and  of  the  Cabinet,  are  as 
devotedly  pious  as  our  best  men  in  similar  stations.     A 
general  respect  for  religion  characterizes   the   highest 
society  of  Berlin,  where  it  was  formerly  treated  with 
ridicule  and  contempt.     The  main  current  of  the  uni 
versity  looks  towards  the  harmony  of  science  and  faith, 
of  literature  and  Christianity.    In  nearly  all  the  churches 
the  Gospel  is  at  present  proclaimed  with  more  or  less 
purity  and  power,  and  many  of  the  ministers,  a  Hoff 
man,  an  Arndt,  a  Souchon,  a  Buchsel,  a  Krummacher, 
(now  transferred  to  Potsdam)  are  among  the  most  fear 
less,  pungent,  heart-piercing  preachers  of  the  age,  and 
attract  the  largest  crowds  of  devout  hearers,  often  bathed 
in  tears  of  repentance  and  gratitude  to  the  infinite  mercy 
of  God  in  Christ. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


HALLE    AND     BONN. 

The  City  and  University  of  Halle— The  Theological  Department,  and  the 
Changes  and  Revolutions  it  has  passed  through—The  University  of 
Bonn,  and  its  Peculiar  Attractions— The  Rhine. 

WHILE  Berlin,  though  lying  on  a  monotonous  sandy 
plain,  has,  by  industry  and  art,  been  converted  into  one 
of  the  finest  and  most  pleasant  residences  of  Europe, 
Halle  on  the  Saale  in  the  Saxon  province  of 'Prussia, 
though  surrounded  by  some  picturesque  scenery  at  Gie- 
bichenstein  and  on  the  Petersberg,  is  one  of  the  ugliest 
and  most  repulsive  cities  of  Germany,  full  of  old-fash 
ioned  uncomfortable  dwellings,  narrow,  crooked  streets, 
wretched  muddy  pavements,  gloomy  air,  and  intolerable 
smell  arising  from  peat  bogs,  and  salt  springs,  which 
yield  from  225,000  to  300,000  hundreds-weight  of  salt 
annually.  But  in  addition  to  its  historical  associations 
with  the  history  of  the  Saxon  Reformation,  it  has  two 
great  attractions  for  the  scholar  and  Christian  philan 
thropist,  viz.,  the  University  and  the  Orphan  House  of 
Augustus  Hermann  Franke,  that  noble  monument  of 
faith  in  God  and  charity  to  man. 

The  University  of  Halle  was  founded  in  1694,  and 
was  enlarged  and  enriched  by  the  union  with  that  of 
Wittenberg,  which  was  merged  into  it  in  1816,  after  the 


HALLE  AND  BONN.  73 

annexation  of  the  Saxon  province  to  Prussia.  Formerly 
each  professor  lectured  in  his  own  house  ;  but,  in  1834, 
the  government  built  an  imposing  edifice  for  that  pur 
pose,  in  the  new  part  of  the  city.  A  large  library, 
various  museums,  an  anatomical  theatre,  chemical  labo 
ratory,  botanic  garden,  and  observatory,  complete  the 
literary  apparatus.  Some  of  the  lectures  are  still  deliv 
ered  in  Latin,  according  to  old  fashion.  The  late  Pro 
fessor  Weber  felt  himself  greatly  insulted  when  once  a 
dog  sneaked  into  his  lecture  room  while  he  learnedly 
discoursed  de  statu  integritatis,  and  commanded  the 
strange  student,  with  much  gravity  and  authority,  "Abi, 
canis,  ubi  loquuntur  vernacule." 

The  theological  department  was  always  the  most 
prominent  in  Halle,  and  numbers  more  professorships 
and  students,  (sometimes  as  many  as  8  and  900,)  than 
any  other  university.  In  1848  the  number  declined, 
but  is  now  again  on  the  increase.  In  the  winter  session 
of  1854  to  '55,  the  whole  number  of  students  was  660, 
of  whom  378  were  preparing  for  the  ministry.  The 
theological  faculty  of  Halle  has  passed  through  all  the 
recent  revolutions  of  German  Protestantism.  During 
the  former  half  of  the  last  century,  it  was  the  literary 
stronghold  of  the  pietistic  school  of  Spener,  arid  Franke 
who  was  himself  one  of  the  professors,  and  trained  a 
number  of  missionaries  for  heathen  lands,  and  the  Ger 
man  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania.  But  from  the  time  of 
Semler,  the  father  of  German  neology,  it  fell  into  the 
hands  of  rationalism,  as  represented  by  the  celebrated 
Hebrew  scholar,  Gesenius,  and  the  didactic  divine,  Weg- 
scheider,  who  gave  tone  and  character  to  the  university 


74  HALLE  AND  BONN. 

for  more  than  twenty  years.  During  this  period  the 
venerable  Knapp  was  the  only  evangelical  professor 
there,  and  he,  with  all  his  learning  and  zeal,  could  not 
turn  the  current  of  the  age.  But,  since  the  arrival  of 
Tholuck,  in  1827,  a  gradual  change  has  taken  place,  so 
that  the  present  faculty  is  composed  of  sound  Christian 
teachers.  The  former  rude  habits  of  the  students  have 
likewise  improved,  although  there  is  room  yet  for  con 
siderable  progress  in  refinement. 

Bonn,  in  Rhenish  Prussia,  the  former  residence  of  the 
electors  and  archbishops  of  Cologne,  and  the  birthplace 
of  Beethoven,  was  selected  for  a  university,  in  1818, 
and  the  extensive  castle  of  the  electors  assigned  for  the 
lectures,  the  library,  and  the  museum.  Here  most  of 
the  professional  men  are  trained  for  the  two  western 
provinces  of  the  Prussian  monarchy.  The  young  Prince 
of  Prussia,  and  Prince  Albert,  of  England,  studied 
there.  The  theological  department  embraces  two  facul 
ties,  one  for  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  to  which  the 
majority  of  the  population  of  Bonn  and  the  surround 
ing  country  belong,  especially  Cologne,  with  its  vast  and 
wondrous  dome ;  and  another  for  the  Evangelical  church, 
which  prevails  on  the  lower  Rhine,  and  in  the  Wupper- 
thal,  the  most  nourishing  part  of  Prussian  Protestant 
ism,  and  the  stronghold  of  the  Reformed  Confession  in 
Germany.  The  Evangelical  faculty  has,  within  the  last 
few  years,  sustained  considerable  loss  by  the  removal 
of  Nitzsch  to  Berlin  (1847,)  of  Rothe  to  Heidelberg, 
and  of  Dorner  to  Gottingen  (1853.)  But  it  is  still  one 
of  the  best,  and  Bleek,  Lange,  Hasse,  etc.,  fill  their 
respective  chairs  very  creditably.  The  other  faculties 


HALLE  AND  BONN.  75 

embrace  likewise  a  number  of  distinguished  names,  of 
whom  I  would  especially  mention  Clemens  Th.  Perthes, 
professor  of  law,  a  son  of  the  well-known  publisher,  and 
grandson  of  the  poet  Claudius.  He  is  one  of  the  finest 
specimens  of  a  German  gentleman  and  Christian,  I  be 
came  acquainted  with. 

Bonn  is  a  favorite  resort  for  students  from  foreign 
countries,  especially  in  the  summer  season,  when  it  offers 
peculiar  attractions.  I  know  of  no  university  which  is 
more  advantageously  located,  if  the  educational  influ 
ences  of  nature  and  historical  associations  are  taken 
into  account.  For  Bonn  lies  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine, 
a  short  distance  from  the  most  interesting  and  celebrated 
spots  on  that  river,  and  in  full  view  of  the  Drachenfels 
(Dragon's  Rock,)  whose  summit,  crowned  by  the  ruins 
of  a  feudal  castle,  commands  the  finest  prospect  over  a 
region  equally  famous  for  the  beauties  of  nature  and  the 
charms  of  romance.  There  are,  no  doubt,  grander, 
sublimer,  and  more  overpowering  views  from  the  Alps 
of  Switzerland,  that  rise,  like  cathedrals  of  God's  own 
workmanship,  from  earth  to  heaven  ;  but  none,  perhaps, 
which  blend  in  harmony  such  a  variety  of  scenery  witli 
the  ruins  of  the  past  and  the  busy  life  of  the  present. 

More  mighty  spots  may  rise,  more  glaring  shine 

Than  on  the  lovely  banks  of  father  Rhine ; 

But  none  unite  in  one  attaching  maze, 

The  brilliant,  fair,  and  soft, — the  glories  of  old  days  ; 

The  negligently  grand,  the  fruitful  bloom 
Of  coming  ripeness,  the  white  city's  sheen, 
The  rolling  stream,  the  precipice's  gloom, 
The  forest's  growth,  and  Gothic  walls  between, 


76  HALLE  AND  BONN. 

The  wild  rocks,  shaped  as  they  had  turrets  been 

In  mockery  of  man's  art ;  and  these  withal 

A  race  of  faces  happy  as  the  scene, 

Whose  fertile  bounties  here  extend  to  all, 

Still  springing  o'er  the  banks,  though  empires  near  them  fall. 

The  river  nobly  foams  and  flows, 

The  charm  of  this  enchanted  ground, 

And  all  its  thousand  turns  disclose 

Some  fresher  beauty  varying  round  ; 

The  haughtiest  breast  its  wish  might  bound 

Through  life  to  dwell  delighted  here  ; 

Nor  could  on  earth  a  spot  be  found 

To  nature,  and  to  me  so  dear, 

Could  thy  dear  eyes,  in  following  mine, 

Still  swooten  more  these  banks  of  Rhine. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


GOTTINGEN  AND  LEIPSIC. 

Gottingen— Its  Former  Fame— Its  Recent  Decline  and  Gradual  Recovery 
— Leipsic— Its  Literary  and  Theological  Character— The  Attractions  of 
the  City. 

GOTTINGEN,  on  the  Leine.  is  the  seat  of  the  celebrated 
Academia  Georgia  Augusta,  founded  in  1734  by  George 
II.,  King  of  England,   and  elector  of  Hanover.     The 
cynical  H.  Heine,  who  was  once  expelled  from  it,  pours, 
in  his  Reitebilder,  the  full  vial  of  his  sarcasm  upon  that 
city,  "  which,  he  says,  is  famou*  for  its  sausages  and  its 
university,  belongs  to  the  King  of  Hanover,  and  has  four 
classes   of    inhabitants,   differing   but   little   from   each 
other,  viz  :  students,  professors,  philistines,  and  cattle, 
the   last  being  the   most  important."     But   Gottingen 
took  its  place  formerly  amongst  the  very  first  literary 
institutions  of  Europe.     Ever  since  the  middle  of  the 
last   century  it  was  favored  with  professors   of  great 
learning  and  wide  fame.     We  may  mention  Mosheim, 
Walch,  Planck,  and  Gieseler,  in  church  history  ;  Spit- 
tier,  and  Heeren  in  secular  history  ;  Michaelis,   Eich- 
horn,  and  Ewald  in  oriental  literature  ;   Heyne,  and  Ott- 
fried  Muller  in  classical  learning  ;  the  brothers  Grimm, 
and  Gervinus  in  Germanic  antiquities  ;  Hugo  in   juris- 

7* 


78  GOTTINGEN  AND  LEIPSIC. 

prudence  ;  Blumenbach  in  natural  science  ;  Gauss  in 
mathematics  ;  Herbart  in  metaphysics.  Owing  to  the 
connection  of  the  crown  of  Hanover  with  that  of  Eng 
land,  before  the  accession  of  Queen  Victoria,  the  uni 
versity  attracted  also  a  number  of  English  students, 
and  two  of  our  most  eloquent  writers,  Bancroft  and  E. 
Everett,  graduated  at  Gottingen.  The  public  library  is 
one  of  the  largest,  best  selected  and  arranged,  in  the 
world,  and  is  especially  rich  in  foreign  literature. 

But,  since  1831,  Gottingen  has  greatly  suffered,  first 
by  a  political  disturbance  which  broke  out  after  the  July 
revolution  of  France,  and  resulted  in  severe  reaction 
ary  measures ;  and  then  by  the  arbitrary  overthrow  of 
the  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  in  1837.  In  conse 
quence  of  this  high-handed  measure  of  the  energetic 
despot,  Ernest  Augustus,  formerly  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
seven  liberal  professors,  Dahlmann  (now  at  Bonn,)  Wil- 
helm  and  Jacob  Grimm  (now  at  Berlin,)  Gervinus  (re 
siding  at  Heidelberg,)  Ewald  (who  was  called  to  Tubin 
gen,  but  returned  again  to  Gottingen,)  Weber,  and  Al- 
brecht,  were  deposed  and  expatriated,  but  met  with  an 
enthusiastic  sympathy  all  over  Germany,  and  received 
honorable  calls  to  other  universities.  The  number  of 
students  also  declined  rapidly,  and  scarcely  reaches  700 
now,  while  before  1831  it  averaged,  for  several  years, 
over  1400  annually.  From  these  severe  shocks  the  uni 
versity  will  not  fully  recover  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
although  it  is  now  in  a  more  flourishing  condition  than 
it  was  ten  years  ago. 

The  theological  faculty  sustained  a  great  loss  by  the 
death  of  Gieseler,  in  1854,  and  of  Liicke,  in  1855;  but 


GOTTINGEN  AND  LEIPSIC.  79 

their  places  were  filled  with  able  successors.  Dorner 
and  Ehrenfeuchter  are  now  its  chief  ornaments. 

The  university  of  Leipsic,  founded  in  1409,  numbers 
as  many  ordinary,  extraordinary,  and  private  professors 
as  Gottingen,  viz :  109,  and  about  800  students,  with  a 
library  of  110,000  volumes.  It  is  highly  distinguished 
for  a  large  amount  of  philological  and  antiquarian  learn 
ing,  and  immense  literary  industry,  while  in  the  specu 
lative  sciences  it  occupies  only  a  secondary  place,  and 
rarely  gives  rise  to  new  ideas  and  systems  of  thought. 
The  Saxon  schools  generally  turn  out  the  best  classical 
scholars,  and  make  the  language  of  Cicero,  in  the  higher 
classes  of  the  gymnasia,  not  only  the  object,  but  also  the 
living  medium  of  a  thorough  instruction. 

In  a  theological  point  of  view,  this  university  resisted, 
at  first,  the  reformation,  and  claimed  the  victory  over 
Wittenberg,  in  the  famous  disputation  which  was  held 
between  Luther  and  Eck,  in  1519,  on  the  Pleissenburg, 
the  old  castle  of  Leipsic,  now  used  as  a  barrack,  and  an 
observatory.  But  soon  afterwards  it  embraced  the  new 
faith,  and  remained  for  a  long  time  a  nursery  of  ortho 
dox  Lutheranism,  even  after  the  royal  house  of  Saxony, 
prompted  by  unworthy  secular  motives,  apostatized  from 
the  Protestant  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Since 
the  end  of  the  last  century,  however,  the  old  founda 
tions  gradually  gave  way,  and  Leipsic,  together  with 
Halle  and  Jena,  became  the  chief  patron  of  neology  in 
northern  and  central  Germany,  and  cursed  Saxony, 
both  the  kingdom  and  the  duchies,  with  a  rationalistic 
clergy.  It  long  resisted  the  revival  of  evangelical  re 
ligion  in  the  present  century,  and  was  less  affected  than 


80  GOTTINGEN  AND  LEIPSIC. 

most  of  the  other  universities  by  the  theology  of  Schleier- 
macher  and  Neander,  and  the  philosophy  of  Schelling 
and  Hegel,  which  destroyed  the  power  of  the  older  deistic 
rationalism.  But  more  recently  a  decided  change  has 
taken  place  in  favor  of  Lutheran  orthodoxy,  and  that 
mostly  in  its  rigid  confessional  form.  One  of  the 
strongest  champions  of  this  school,  Dr.  Harless,  was 
called  there  in  1847,  but  remained  only  a  few  years. 
Dr.  Kahnis  and  Lindner,  two  divines  of  the  younger 
generation,  labor  in  the  same  spirit  as  theological  pro 
fessors,  and  are  greatly  assisted  by  Dr.  Ahlfeld,  who  is 
one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  pious  German  pulpit  ora 
tors  of  the  age.  Dr.  Liebner,  a  highly-gifted  specula 
tive  divine,  and  excellent  preacher,  belongs  to  a  milder 
form  of  a  Lutheranism,  and  falls  in  more  with  the  evan 
gelical  school  of  Nitzsch,  Miiller,  and  Dorner  ;  but  he 
was  recently  removed  to  the  presidency  of  the  consistory 
at  Dresden. 

The  University  of  Leipsic  enjoys  many  local  advan 
tages,  more  or  less  educational  in  their  bearing.  For 
Leipsic,  the  second  city  in  the  kingdom  of  Saxony,  with 
about  70,000  inhabitants,  has  .a  large  number  of  literary 
institutions,  societies,  and  valuable  libraries,  and  is  the 
most  extensive  book  market  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 
It  numbers  130  publishers  and  booksellers,  and  31  print 
ing  establishments,  which  issue,  it  is  estimated,  50  mil 
lions  of  printed  sheets  annually.  At  its  noted  fairs, 
especially  at  Easter,  goods  to  the  amount  of  60  millions 
of  Prussian  thalers  are  sold  or  exchanged,  of  which  8 
millions  are  for  books.  On  these  occasions  the  strangers 
from  all  quarters  of  the  old  world,  especially  the  East, 


GOTTINGEN  AND  LEIPSIC.  81 

outnumber  sometimes  the  inhabitants ;  and  Turks, 
Greeks,  Persians,  Armenians,  Polish  Jews,  and  Hunga 
rians,  are  seen  walking  about  in  their  picturesque  ori 
ental  costumes.  The  city  lies  in  a  fertile  plain,  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Elster,  Pleisse,  and  Parthe,  and  is  sur 
rounded  by  rapidly  growing  suburbs  and  numerous  gar 
dens.  The  old  fortifications  have  been  converted  into 
beautiful  promenades,  with  trees  and  shrubberies.  But 
the  most  pleasant  wTalk  is  to  the  Rosenthal,  where  Schiller 
composed  the  poem,  "  Freude,  sclwner  G-otterfunke" 
while  Auerbach's  Cellar,  in  the  centre  of  the  city  proper, 
reminds  the  lover  of  poetry  of  the  famous  drinking  scene 
in  Gothe's  Faust.  The  citizens  of  Leipsic  are  generally 
intelligent,  courteous,  and  polite  to  a  degree  which  makes 
them  strongly  resemble  the  French. 

The  mass  of  the  population  is  Lutheran,  but  there  is 
also  a  Reformed,  and  a  Roman  Catholic  Church  there, 
and  a  Jewish  synagogue.  The  memorable  Vollcer- 
scldacht  (battle  of  nations,)  which  was  fought  around 
and  in  Leipsic,  Oct.  16-19,  1813,  and  which  decided  the 
defeat  of  Napoleon  by  the  Allies,  and  the  emancipation 
of  Europe  from  the  French  yoke,  gives  the  place  an 
additional  historical  importance.  Those  were  most 
glorious  days  for  Germany,  but  mixed  with  a  deep  feel 
ing  of  regret  and  humiliation  for  the  Saxons,  whose 
fathers,  in  blind  obedience  to  their  misguided  King, 
fought  under  the  banners  of  Napoleon  against  their  own 
countrymen  and  fatherland. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


JENA  AND    THE   BURSCHENSCHAFT. 

The  University  of  Jena — Its  Former  Celebrity — Weimar  and  the  German 
Classics— Origin  of  the  Burschenschaft— The  Wartburg  Festival— The 
Sand  Tragedy — Dissolution  of  the  Burschenschaft — Distinguished  Ger 
man  Refugees  to  America — Follen,  Lieber,  and  Ranch. 

JENA  is  a  little  town  in  the  little  grand  duchy  of 
Saxe-Weimar.  But  its  university,  which  dates  from  the 
age  of  the  Reformation,  acquired  great  celebrity  at  the 
end  of  the  last  and  the  early  part  of  the  present  cen 
tury  by  a  rare  collection  of  profound  philosophers,  as 
Fries,  Fichte,  Schelling,  Hegel,  and  genial  poets  and 
critics,  as  Schiller  (for  some  time  professor  of  history,) 
Schlegel,  Tieck,  Novalis,  who  resided  there  either  as 
professors,  or  as  private  gentlemen,  and  prepared  an 
intellectual  reformation  of  Germany  at  the  period  of  its 
deepest  political  degradation.  Schelling's  lectures  had 
an  electrifying  effect  upon  the  students,  and  opened  to 
them  new  paths  of  speculation,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
autobiographies  of  his  admiring  disciples,  Steffens  and 
Schubert.  Hegel,  who  was  far  inferior  to  him  as  a  lec 
turer,  wrote  the  last  pages  of  his  first  great  philosophi 
cal  work,  the  Phaenomenologie,  under  the  cannon  roar 
of  the  disastrous  battle  of  1806,  which  resulted  in  the 
annihilation  of  the  Prussian  forces  at  the  hands  of  Na- 


JENA  AND  THE  BURSCHENSCHAFT.  83 

poleon.  Fichte  soon  afterwards  took  a  most  active  part 
in  rousing  the  slumbering  patriotism  and  indignation  of 
the  Germans  against  the  French.  These  three  philoso 
phers  moved  ultimately  to  Berlin,  while  Fries  continued 
in  Jena,  and  figured  prominently  in  the  creation  of  the 
Burschenschaft,  and  the  Wartburg  celebration. 

During  the  same  period,  Weimar,  the  capital  of  the 
grand-duchy,  which  is  only  15  miles  distant  from  Jena, 
deserved  in  an  eminent  sense  the  name  of  the  German 
Athens,  as  the  residence  of  the  immortal  heroes  of  Ger 
man  poetry.  Gothe  (died  1832,)  Schiller  (1805,)  Herder 
(1803,)  and  Wieland  (1813,)  resided  there  till  their  deaths, 
attracted  the  most  distinguished  men  of  their  age,  as 
occasional  visitors,  to  Weimar,  and  cast  the  lustre  of 
their  literary  glory  also  upon  the  neighboring  univer 
sity.  Unfortunately  the  cause  of  Christianity  and  the 
church,  which,  after  all,  far  outweighs  the  highest  crea 
tions  of  genius,  and  the  richest  flowers  of  art,  received 
no  encouragement  whatever  from  these  worshippers  of 
beauty,  except  Herder.  He  was,  indeed,  an  enthusias 
tic  admirer  of  the  poetry  and  religion  of  the  Bible  ;  but 
could  not  arrest  the  flood  of  elegantly  varnished  infidel 
ity  and  demoralizing  worldliness  which  inundated  that 
country,  and  which  has  hardly  begun  to  recede. 

Subsequently  the  university  of  Jena  became  the 
birthplace  of  the  ill-fated  Burschenschaft.  It  was  or 
ganized  in  1816,  under  a  local  character,  and  spread  soon 
over  Germany,  taking  the  place  of  the  old  rotten  Lands- 
mannschaften.  As  it  fills  an  interesting  and  character 
istic  chapter  in  the  modern  history  of  the  German  uni 
versities,  we  may  here  briefly  refer  to  the  principal 
facts. 


84  JENA  AND  THE  BURSCHENSCHAFT. 

The  Burschenschaft  was  a  voluntary  association  of 
German  students  for  the  purpose  of  realizing  the  pat 
riotic  ideals  which  had  been  awakened  in  the  German 
nation  by  the  successful  war  of  independence.  It  was 
animated  by  a  noble,  though  unripe  and  confused  relig 
ious  patriotic  enthusiasm.  It  lacked,  it  is  true,  a  solid 
basis,  and  a  clearly-defined  practical  end.  Still  it  might 
have  accomplished  an  important  work  for  Germany,  if 
it  had  been  wisely  controlled,  instead  of  being  violently 
suppressed  by  the  governments. 

The  first  important  act  of  the  Burschenschaft  of  Jena 
was  an  invitation,  drawn  up  by  Robert  Wesselhoft,  to 
the  students  of  the  German  universities,  to  assemble  on 
the  Wartburg,  Oct.  18th,  1817,  for  the  purpose  of  cele 
brating  the  approaching  third  centennial  jubilee  of  the 
Reformation,  and  more  particularly  the  recent  libera 
tion  of  Germany  from  French  tyranny. 

Accordingly  about  500  students,  representing  12  uni 
versities,  many  of  whom  had  fought  as  volunteers  a  few 
years  before  on  the  battle  fields  of  Leipsic  and  Water 
loo,  for  the  freedom  of  their  fatherland,  together  with 
several  professors,  Dr.  Fries,  Kieser,  Schweizer,  and 
others,  met  on  the  market  of  Eisenach  in  the  morning 
of  the  appointed  day,  made  memorable  by  the  decisive 
victory  of  Leipsic,  and  marched  in  solemn  procession, 
with  banners,  and  under  the  sound  of  festive  music  and 
all  the  bells  of  the  city,  to  the  famous  castle  where 
Luther,  in  involuntary  confinement,  three  hundred  years 
before,  had  translated  the  New  Testament,  and  cast  his 
inkstand  at  the  devil.  There,  in  the  Minnesangersaal, 
they  sung  the  warlike  psalm  of  the  reformer,  "Ein'  feste 
Burg  ist  unser  Grott;  "  listened  to  a  patriotic  sermon 


JENA  AND  THE  BURSCHENSCHAFT.  85 

and  prayer  of  Mr.  Riemann,  a  theological  student  of 
Jena,  and  Knight  of  the  Iron  Cross,  which  he  had  ac 
quired  in  the  bloody  action  of  Waterloo  ;  concluded  the 
religious  services  with  the  German  Te  Deum,  "  Nun 
danket  alle  G-ott;"  and  then,  at  12  o'clock,  partook  of 
a  common  meal,  highly  seasoned  by  enthusiastic  toasts 
upon  German  freedom,  "  the  jewel  of  life,"  on  Dr.  Martin 
Luther,  "  the  man  of  God,"  on  the  grand  duke  of  Saxe- 
Weimar,  "the  patron  of  the  day,"  on  the  victors  of 
Leipsic,  the  volunteers  of  1813,  the  German  universi 
ties,  and  the  Burschenschaft.  After  this  feast  of  reason 
and  flow  of  soul,  they  returned,  at  2  o'clock,  to  the  city 
to  attend  divine  services  in  the  church,  reassembled  on 
the  market-place,  in  connection  with  the  EisenacJier 
Land-sturm,  spent  the  evening  in  singing  and  gymnastic 
exercises,  and  concluded  the  festivities  of  the  day  by  a 
torch  procession  to  the  Wartenberg,  opposite  the  Wart- 
burg. 

So  far  everything  passed  off  with  perfect  order  and 
decorum.  But  late  in  the  night  an  imprudent  act  was 
committed  on  the  Wartenberg,  which,  though  not  pro 
vided  for  in  the  programme,  proved  nearly  fatal  to  the 
Burschenschaft.  It  was  the  burning  of  28  illiberal 
books  and  pamphlets,  together  with  a  bodice,  a  cue,  ;md 
a  corporal's  staff,  the  symbols  of  the  old  fashioned  pe 
dantry  and  tyranny  of  Germany.  This  political  auto 
da  f£,  a  mock  repetition  of  the  solemn  act  by  which  the 
great  reformer  committed  the  papal  bull  of  condemna 
tion  to  the  flames  before  the  Elster-gate  of  Wittenberg  in 
1520,  might  have  passed  unpunished,  and  left  to  its  own 
consequences,  in  the  republics  of  Switzerland,  and  the 
8 


86  JENA  AND  THE  BU11SCHENSCHAFT. 

United  States,  or  in  a  free  monarchy  like  England. 
But  among  the  many  big  and  little  governments  of  Ger 
many,  whose  greatest  fault  and  trouble  is  an  excess  of 
government?  it  aroused  alarm  concerning  the  objects 
and  tendencies  of  the  Burschenschaft,  and  thus  greatly 
strengthened  the  political  reaction  which  had  set  in 
since  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  especially  in  Austria,  and 
even  in  Prussia.  A  denunciatory  and  disrespectful  let 
ter  of  the  Prussian  Oberregierungsrath  von  Kamptz, 
whose  collection  of  police  laws  was  among  the  number 
of  burned  books,  to  the  grand  duke  of  Saxe-Weimar, 
revealed  the  indignation  which  was  felt  in  high  places 
against  the  students.  Upon  a  calm  and  impartial  rep 
resentation  of  the  whole  affair  by  the  government  of 
Saxe-Weimar,  which  disconnected  the  improvisized  auto 
da  fd  from  the  Wartburg  festival,  the  storm  passed  over, 
but  only  for  a  short  season. 

In  the  meantime  the  movement  amongst  the  students 
enlarged  and  deepened.  On  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
Wartburg  celebration,  the  18th  of  October,  1818,  the 
representatives  of  14  universities  assembled  in  Jena, 
and  founded  the  General  Crerman  Bursclienschaft,  on 
the  basis  of  unity,  freedom,  and  equality  of  rights  and 
duties.  Its  object  was  stated  to  be  "  the  Christian  Ger 
man  (christlich  deutsche)  development  of  every  spiritual 
and  physical  power  for  the  service  of  the  fatherland." 
The  constitution  of  this  society,  which  may  be  found  in 
full  in  Haupt's  Landsmannschaft  und  Burschenschaft, 
and  also  in  the  fourth  volume  of  Carl  von  Raumer's 
0-eschichte  der  Padagogik,  is  drawn  up  with  considera 
ble  care  and  circumspection,  and  differs  favorably  in 


JENA  AND  THE  BURSCHENSCHAFT.  87 

moral  tone  from  the  undignified  and  ridiculous  comments 
of  the  Landsmannschaften,  as  they  existed  before  the 
year  1817.  They  evidently  show  the  ennobling  effect 
which  the  German  war  of  liberation  exerted  upon  the 
rising  youth.  But  such  an  association,  based  upon  lib 
eral  political  principles,  and  extending  its  net  over  most 
of  the  German  universities,  appeared  dangerous  to  the 
reactionists,  and  created  a  growing  opposition  which 
resulted  at  last  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Burschenschaft. 
The  crisis  was  brought  about  in  March,  1819,  by  the 
assassination  of  Hofrath  von  Kotzebue,  an  unprincipled 
man  and  writer,  then  residing  at  Mannheim,  who  was 
justly  hated  and  despised  by  all  the  liberals,  as  a  Russian 
spy  and  traitor  of  Germany.  Karl  Ludwig  Sand,  an 
honest  and  serious,  but  melancholy,  dreamy,  and  confused 
student  of  theology,  at  Jena,  a  great  admirer  of  Charles 
Follen,  and  member  of  the  Burschenschaft, who  had  taken 
part  in  the  festival  of  the  Wartburg,  performed  the  foul 
deed  by  a  dagger,  in  mistaken  zeal  for  German  liberty, 
on  the  wicked  maxim  that  the  end  justifies  the  means. 
While  the  worthless  victim  was  expiring  in  his  own 
dwelling,  Sand  rushed  to  the  street,  assembled  a  crowd, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Hurrah  for  my  German  fatherland, 
and  all  those  Germans  who  desire  to  promote  the  wel 
fare  of  pure  humanity  !  "  Then  kneeling  down,  he 
prayed,  "  I  thank  thee,  0  God  !  for  this  victory,"  and 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  suicide,  hoping  by 
means  of  a  double  crime  to  open  a  bloody  path  for  Ger 
man  liberty,  and  thus  to  immortalize  himself  as  a  second 
Arnold  of  Winkelried.  During  the  trial  he  showed 
perfect  composure,  and  gloried  in  his  deed,  which  he 
declared  he  had  premeditated  for  six  months  without 


88  JENA  AND  THE  BURSCHENSCIIAFT. 

the  knowledge  of  others.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1819, 
he  was  executed  by  the  sword,  near  Mannheim,  before  a 
great  concourse  of  people.  His  last  audible  words  were, 
ic  God  gives  me  much  cheerfulness  in  death — it  is  done 
— I  die  in  the  grace  of  God." 

It  is  plain  enough  that  Sand  was  no  common  assas 
sin,  but  a  misguided,  half  insane  fanatic.  Hence  his 
fate  excited  as  much  sympathy  as  the  assassination  cre 
ated  abhorrence.  Dr.  De  Wette,  at  that  time  professor 
of  Christian  ethics,  at  Berlin,  taking  the  false  ground 
that  even  an  erring  conscience  is  binding  and  must  be 
obeyed,  attempted,  not  indeed  to  justify,  but  to  excuse 
the  double  crime  of  Sand,  in  a  private  letter  to  his 
mother,  which,  being  made  known  to  the  King  of  Prus 
sia,  was  the  cause  of  his  deposition  from  the  professorial 
chair. 

The  murder  of  Kotzebue  was  regarded  by  the  ene 
mies  of  the  Burschenschaft,  although  without  any  legal 
evidence  to  justify  the  charge,  as  the  result  of  a  general 
revolutionary  conspiracy  among  the  academic  youth,  or 
at  least  as  the  natural  fruit  of  its  liberal  political  tend 
encies. 

The  Burschenschaft  was  prohibited  by  a  resolution  of 
the  German  Diet,  Sept.  20,  1819,  and  its  leaders  were 
made  severely  to  suifer  in  prison,  or  exile,  for  their 
youthful  enthusiasm.  Nevertheless,  the  society  contin 
ued  to  exist  secretly  in  several  universities,  and  divided 
into  two  branches,  the  Arminia,  which  favored  the  prin 
ciple  of  constitutional  monarchy,  and  the  Gf-ermania, 
which  was  republican  in  its  political  creed.  The  events 
which  followed  the  French  revolution  of  1830  seemed  to 
justify  a  more  open  and  determined  action  of  the  stu- 


JKNA  AND  THE  BURSCHENSCHAFT.  N9 

dents.  But  these  disturbances  only  led  to  new  investi 
gations,  stricter  prohibitions,  imprisonments  and  expa 
triations,  especially  in  1834  and  1839. 

These  severe  measures  increased  the  distrust  of  the 
students  against  the  governments,  and  that  dissatisfac 
tion  which  broke  out  so  fearfully  in  the  revolutions  of 
1848,  and  which  can  only  be  radically  removed  by  a 
wise,  benevolent,  and  liberal  policy. 

Many  of  the  German  students  who  were  compelled  to 
leave  their  native  land  on  account  of  liberal  sentiments 
on  politics,  found   a  hospitable  asylum  in  the  United 
States,    and    some    of   them    distinguished    themselves 
as  professors,  or  by  valuable  contributions  to  American 
literature.     Among  these,  three  deserve  special  men 
tion  ;  first,  Charles  Follen,  the  teacher  of  the  unfortu 
nate  Sand,  and   suspected,  though  unjustly,  no  doubt, 
for  being  implicated  in  the  murder  of  Kotzebue,  since 
1830  professor  of  German  literature  in  Harvard  Uni 
versity,  afterwards  Unitarian  minister,  till  he  met  with 
a  melancholy  death  in  the  flames  of  the  steamer  Lexing 
ton,  in  1840 ;    secondly,   Dr.  Francis  Lieber,   now  of 
South   Carolina,  a  most  accomplished  scholar,  who  is 
pretty  generally  regarded  in  America  as  the  best  living 
writer  on  political  ethics,  and  the  philosophy  of  consti 
tutional  government ;  and  finally,  Dr.  Frederick  Augustus 
Rauch,  the  youngest  of  the  three,  the  first  president  of 
Marshall  College,  at  Mercersburg,  and  author  of  a  well- 
known  psychology,  which  would  have  been  followed,  no 
doubt,  by  a  number  of  still  more  important  philosophi 
cal  and  theological  works,  if  Providence  had  not  called 
him  hence  in  the  prime  of  life  (1841.) 


CHAPTER  X. 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

The  City  and  University  of  Heidelberg — Their  Various  Fortunes  and  Pres 
ent  Condition — The  Theological  Faculty — Tubingen— *The  General  Lit 
erary,  Social,  and  Religious  Character  of  Wurteinberg — The  Pietists — 
Mode  of  Study  in  Tubingen — Preponderance  of  Speculation — The  Tu 
bingen  School — Eritis  Sicut  Dcus — Important  Change,  and  Favorable 
Prospect — Baur,  Beck,  Landerer,  Palmer,  Oehler. 

HEIDELBERG,  the  seat  of  the  Protestant  university  of 
the  grand  duchy  of  Baden,  formerly  the  capital  of  the 
electoral  Palatinate,  rivals  Bonn  in  beauty  of  situ 
ation,  being  surrounded  by  wooded  hills,  vineyards,  and 
promenades,  on  the  charming  banks  of  the  Neckar,  and 
commanded  by  the  famous  old  castle  of  the  electors, 
which  is  regarded  as  the  most  picturesque  and  romantic, 
as  the  Coliseum  of  Rome  is  the  most  colossal  and  im 
posing,  ruin  of  Europe. 

Its  university,  the  celebrated  Ruper to- Carolina, 
dating  from  the  fourteenth  century,  is,  next  to  that  of 
Prague,  the  oldest  in  Germany,  and  the  cradle  from 
which  the  first  scientific  culture  of  the  Southern  regions 
of  that  country  proceeded.  It  shared  all  the  strange 
vicissitudes  of  fortune  to  which  the  city  and  the  castle 
were  subjected.  At  first  the  seat  of  dry  and  stiff  schol 
asticism,  then  promoting  the  revival  of  classical  litera- 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGto, 


ture  through  John  Wessel,  Agricola,\md  llcuchlin,  it 
became  an  early  battle-field  of  the  Reformation,  and 
the  alma  mater  of  Melancthon,  Oecolampadius,  Bucer, 
Brenz,  and  Schnepf.  The  last  three  of  these  students 
were  converted  to  the  Protestant  cause  by  the  public 
debate  of  Luther  on  the  freedom  of  the  will,  on  faith  and 
good  works,  in  1518.  At  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  Heidelberg  became  the  classical  soil  of  Melanc- 
thonian  theology  and  the  German  Reformed  Church, 
under  the  protection  of  Frederick  the  Pius,  who  called 
Zacharias  Ursinus  and  Caspar  Olevianus  to  the  theolog 
ical  chair,  and  entrusted  them  with  the  composition  of 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  the  most  genial  and  catholic 
symbol  of  the  Reformed  Confession.  But  since  the  out 
break  of  the  thirty  years'  war  it  suffered  most  severely, 
and  was  several  times  suspended  during  the  terrible 
devastations  of  the  beautiful  Palatinate  ;  first  in  1622, 
when  the  ferocious  Tilly,  after  bombarding  Heidelberg 
for  a  month,  took  it  by  storm,  and  abandoned  it  to 
three  days'  pillage;  then  in  1688,  when  Melac,  by 
order  of  Louis  XIV.,  burned  the  town,  and  outrivaled 
even  Tilly  in  brutality ;  again  in  1693,  when  another 
French  force  repeated,  and  exceeded,  if  possible,  all 
former  cruelties  ;  and  finally  during  the  wars  of  Napo 
leon,  who  paid  as  little  regard  to  this  ancient  seat  of 
learning,  and  plundered  its  exceedingly  valuable  library 
and  manuscripts,  since  restored  in  part.  But  the  uni 
versity  outlived  all  these  misfortunes,  is  now  again  in  a 
nourishing  condition,  and  occupies  a  prominent  and  com 
manding  position  in  the  literary  world,  especially  in  the 
department  of  jurisprudence.  Private  gentlemen,  too, 


92  HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

of  eminent  distinction,  as  Chevalier  Bunsen,  and  Hein- 
rich  von  Gagern,  have  selected  Heidelberg  for  their  lit 
erary  retirement. 

The  theological  faculty  was,  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century,  degraded  to  the  lowest  order  of  rationalism,  when 
it  stood  under  the  controlling  influence  of  the  notorious 
Paulus,  who  resembled  much  more  the  persecuting  Saul, 
than  the  converted  Paul,  and  tried  to  explain  away  all  the 
miracles  of  Christ  by  the  unnatural  process  of  a  so  called 
natural  interpretation.  It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the 
amount  of  harm  which  this  man  inflicted  during  his  long 
life  upon  the  churches  of  Baden,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  and 
the  Bavarian  Palatinate.  Still  his  influence  was  counter 
acted,  to  a  great  extent,  by  the  profound  and  vigorous 
philosophical  divine,  Daub,  and  subsequently  by  the 
mild  and  learned  Ullmann.  Paulus  lived  to  see  himself 
buried  alive  with  his  deistic  infidelity,  and  that  not  only 
by  the  better  spirit  of  the  age,  but  also  by  another  infi 
del,  Dr.  Strauss,  who  built  his  "  Leben  Jesu  "  on  the 
ruins  of  the  work  of  Paulus  on  the  same  subject.  The 
professors  who  compose,  at  present,  the  theological  fac 
ulty  at  Heidelberg,  Rothe,  Hundeshagen,  Schenkel, 
Umbreit,  are,  without  exception,  men  of  eminent  talent 
and  scholarship,  and  zealously  engaged  in  building  up, 
in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  what  a  former  generation  had 
nearly  destroyed. 

Tubingen,  a  town  of  small  size,  and  hilly  streets,  but 
beautifully  located  on  the  banks  of  the  Neckar,  18  miles 
distant  from  Stuttgart,  has  been  for  nearly  four  hundred 
years  the  alma  mater  of  the  scholars  and  professional 
men  of  Wurtemberg.  Of  this  remarkable  country  we 
must  first  make  some  general  remarks. 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN.  93 

The  kingdom  of  Wiirtemberg  contains  one  third  less 
inhabitants  than  the  city  of  London  alone  with  its  two 
millions  and  a  half.  And  jet  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  country  which,  in  proportion  to  its  size  and  the  number 
of  inhabitants,  gave  birth  to  a  greater  number  of  distin 
guished  scholars  and  literary  men.  The  poets  Schiller, 
Wieland,  Schubart,  Uhland,  Schwab,  Kerner,  Pfizer," 
Mbrike,  Knapp,  Bahrdt,  Eyth  ;  the  philosophers  Schel- 
ling  and  Hegel ;  the  Protestant  theologians  Brentius, 
Oecolampadius,  Andrea,  Osiander,  Pfaff,  Bengel,  Oetin- 
ger,  Planck,  Storr,  Schmid,  Baur,  Beck,  Dorner,  Hoff 
mann  ;  the  Roman  Catholic  divines  Mb'hler,  Drey,  Hir- 
scher,  Staudenmeier,  Hefele,  Welte,  are  all  natives  of 
Wiirtemberg,  and  most  of  them— Schiller  excepted— 
graduates  of  Tubingen,  although  the  most  celebrated  of 
them  (Wieland,  Schiller,  Schelling,  Hegel,  etc.,)  spent 
their  public  life  in  other  parts  of  Germany.  For 
the  country  is  so  small  and  poor,  that  not  a  few  of  its 
ablest  sons  are  obliged  to  seek  their  fortune  elsewhere. 
Besides,  the  Swabians  have  a  strong  love  for  emigration, 
and  may  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the  world  as  professors, 
school-masters,  music-teachers,  ministers,  missionaries, 
naturalists,  mechanics,  and  farmers.  They  contributed 
probably  fully  one  third  to  the  membership  of  the  Luth 
eran  church  in  the  United  States. 

This  literary  fertility  of  Wiirtemberg  may  be  attrib 
uted,  in  a  large  measure,  to  an  excellent  system  of  in 
struction  and  rigid  examination,  from  the  university 
down  to  the  primary  schools  which  are  established  in 
every  hamlet,  and  must  be  attended  by  all  children 
from  6  to  14  years  of  age,  until  they  are  confirmed. 


94  HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

But  it  must  be  owing  also,  of  course,  to  natural  talent 
and  disposition.  The  Swabians  have  strong  intellects, 
fertile  imaginations,  genial  humor,  and  deep  feeling, 
although  an  old  proverb  says  that  they  do  not  come  to 
their  wits  until  they  are  forty.  They  are  rathejr  slow,  it 
is  true,  somewhat  heavy  and  harsh,  like  their  dialect,  but 
'solid,  industrious,  persevering,  honest,  and  reliable. 
What  they  lack  in  form,  they  make  up  in  contents,  and, 
if  their  outside  be  unprepossessing,  their  inside  is  the 
more  substantial.  I  nowhere  met  more  earnest  interest 
in  science  and  literature,  more  sincere  kindness  of  heart 
and  overflowing  affection,  than  in  the  good  old  Scliwa- 
lenland.  That  untranslatable  Germanism,  Gremuthlich- 
keit,  may  be  found  there  in  all  its  peculiar  charm  and 
attraction. 

Wurtemberg  is  also  one  of  the  most  interesting  coun 
tries,  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  and  deserves  to  be 
more  frequently  visited  by  travellers,  on  that  account, 
than  it  is.  It  has,  in  proportion  to  its  size,  a  larger 
number  of  pious  ministers  and  laymen,  than  any  part  of 
Europe,  except  the  Wupperthal,  in  Rhenish  Prussia, 
England  and  Scotland.  It  contributes  annually  more 
men  and  means  for  the  promotion  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  than-  many  a  Christian  country  of  double  the  size, 
and  ten  times  its  wealth.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  indeed, 
that  it  produced  some  of  the  most  learned  opponents  of 
Christianity,  as  Paulus,  the  champion  of  deistic  ration 
alism  ;  Baur,  the  head  of  the  pantheistic  rationalism  ; 
Strauss,  the  author  of  the  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  which 
should  rather  be  called  an  attempt  at  the  critical  des 
truction  of  the  life  of  Jesus.  When  I  studied  at  Tubin- 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN.  95 

gen,  from  1837  to  '39,  more  than  one  half  of  the  theo 
logical  students  were  tinctured  more  or  less  with  Hegelian 
pantheism,  and  destructive  criticism.  But  the  general 
character  of  the  people  is  strongly  and  deeply  religious. 
They  cherish  with  grateful  reverence  the  unbroken  suc 
cession  of  the  pious  divines  and  ministers,  from  Bengel 
to  Hofacker,  who  faithfully  taught  and  preached  the 
way  of  life  during  the  infidel  apostacy  of  the  last  and 
present  centuries.  They  crowd  the  churches  of  those 
who  proclaim  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  Besides,  a 
great  change  has  taken  place  among  the  ministers  and 
students,  and  the  young  generation  is  growing  up  under 
much  more  favorable  influences  now  than  twenty  or  even 
ten  years  ago. 

The  Protestants  of  Wurtemberg,  who  comprise  two 
thirds  of  the  whole  population,  are  originally  Lutherans 
in  doctrine  and  discipline,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
colonies  of  Huguenots,  which  have  long  since  become 
Germanized.  But  in  mode  of  worship  they  always  were 
essentially  Reformed,  though  by  no  means  puritanic,  and 
more  recently  a  Presbyterian  element  has  been  intro 
duced  into  the  form  of  government.  The  reformation 
of  the  country  (1535,)  was  brought  about  by  the  coop 
eration  of  Lutheran  and  Zwinglian  elements,  rlie  former 
being  represented  by  Brenz  and  Schnepf,  the  latter  by 
Blaurer,  a  native  of  Constance,  and  friend  of  a  more 
simple  service  after  the  Helvetic  type.  At  a  subsequent 
period  the  pietistic  movement  of  Spener,  which,  it  is  well 
known,  lays  the  main  stress  on  regeneration,  conversion, 
and  vital  piety,  in  opposition  to  exclusive  confessional- 
ism  and  dead  orthodoxy,  exerted  great  influence  in 


96  HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

Wiirtemberg,  but  in  a  modified  form.  The  Wiirtcmberg 
pietism  is  combined  with  solid  learning,  and  a  cer 
tain  mysticism  which  includes  both  a  theosophic  and 
a  practical  element.  It  also  has  a  special  taste  for 
speculations  on  apocalyptic  and  millenarian  topics,  and 
strongly  leans,  at  least  in  many  of  its  representatives, 
to  the  dangerous  doctrine  of  a  final  salvation  of  all 
creatures,  although  on  a  basis  essentially  different  from 
that  of  American  Universalism. 

The  revered  leaders  of  this  school  are  Bengel.  the 
great  commentator,  Oetinger,  Steinhofer,  Hartmann, 
Rieger,  Roos,  Hillcr,  Storr,  Flatt,  Steudel,  Schmid,  and 
among  the  more  recent  preachers  the  two  Hofackers, 
Kapff,  Knapp  and  Bahrdt.  Their  writings,  especially 
the  commentaries  of  Bengel  and  Rieger,  the  hymns  of 
Hiller,  and  the  sermons  of  Steinhofer  and  Louis  Hofac- 
ker,  are  to  this  day  rich  sources  of  instruction  and  edi 
fication  to  the  people. 

Next  to  the  main  body  of  pietists  there  are  some 
smaller  branches,  the  followers  of  Michael  Hahn,  a  sec 
ond  Jacob  Bohm,  though  less  profound  and  speculative, 
who  insisted  upon  a  thorough  sanctification,  and  the  fol 
lowers  of  Pregizer,  who  made  justification  by  faith  the 
most  prominent  article  of  Christianity. 

These  pietists  of  Wiirtcmberg  occupied,  for  a  long 
time,  a  position  in  the  Lutheran  church  similar  to  that 
of  the  early  Methodists  in  the  Anglican  communion, 
and  the  government  wisely  tolerated  them.  They  held, 
and  'still  hold,  separate  prayer  meetings,  mostly  con 
ducted  by  laymen  (the  so-called  Stundenhalter,  a  sort  of 
class  leaders,  of  whom  the  late  Hoffmann  and  Kullen, 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN.  97 

of  Kornthal,  were  the  most  able  and  popular) ;  but  they 
attended  at  the  same  time  faithfully  the  public  services, 
received  the  sacraments  at  the  hands  of  the  regularly 
ordained  ministers,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  con 
gregations  of  Kornthal  and  Wilhelmsdorf,  never  seceded 
from  the  established  church,  preferring  rather  to  remain 
in  its  bosom  as  a  wholesome  leaven.  Thus  they  proved 
a  blessing  to  it,  and  kept  the  lamp  of  faith  burning  in  a 
period  of  spiritual  darkness.  By  and  by,  the  church  itself 
awoke  from  the  cold  and  dreary  winter  of  indifferentism 
and  rationalism,  introduced  a  better  hymn-book  and 
liturgy,  and  began  to  take  part  in  the  benevolent  oper 
ations  of  Christianity,  heretofore  carried  on  almost  ex 
clusively  by  the  pietists,  such  as  the  domestic  and  foreign 
missionary  cause,  the  support  of  poor  houses,  orphan 
asylums,  etc. 

Since  this  revival  of  the  church,  the  pietists  have 
themselves  become  more  churchly,  and  given  up  or  mod 
ified  their  former  peculiarities,  but  without  falling  in 
with  the  symbolical  Lutheranism,  as  it  prevails  now  in 
the  neighboring  kingdom  of  Bavaria,  and  in  some  parts  of 
northern  Germany.  Rigid  confessionalism  finds  no  con 
genial  soil  in  Wurtemberg.  The  church  of  that  country 
calls  itself  now  officially  no  more  Lutheran,  but  Evan 
gelical.  Its  best  ministers  and  laymen  take  an  active 
part  in  the  movements  of  the  Church  Diet,  the  Gustavus 
Adolphus  Society,  and  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  They 
support,  in  fraternal  communion  with  the  Reformed 
Christians  of  Switzerland,  the  missionary  establishment 
of  Basel,  most  of  whose  teachers  and  pupils  are  natives 
of  Wiirtemberg,  and  may  be  said  to  be  attached,  in 
9 


98  HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

principle  and  practice,  to  the  cause  of  the  evangelical 
union.  The  theology  which  prevails  there,  has  the  same 
character,  and  is  based  upon  the  consensus  of  the  two 
churches.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  divines  of  Wur- 
temberg  found  no  difficulty  to  follow  a  call  to  a  Re 
formed  university,  as  Schneckenburger,  or  to  chairs 
and  pulpits  in  the  United  Prussian  Church,  as  Kling, 
Staib,  Dorner,  Hoffmann. 

But  it  is  time  to  return  from  this  digression  to  Tubin 
gen.  This  university  is  distinguished  for  its  thorough 
and  systematic  way  of  teaching  and  studying.  This  is 
especially  the  case  with  the  theological  students,  who 
live  together  in  one  building,  the  Protestants  in  the  so 
called  Stiff,  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  Convict,  and 
are  supported  by  the  state  to  the  conclusion  of  then- 
course.  It  is  impossible  to  find  anywhere  closer  appli 
cation  and  more  fervent  devotion  to  study.  The  Wur- 
temberger  CrrundlichJceit  has  become  proverbial,  and 
often  degenerates,  it  must  be  admitted,  into  wearisome 
minuteness  and  pedantry.  The  late  excellent  Dr. 
Schmid  never  finished  any  course  of  lectures,  although  he 
kept  the  class  from  five  to  ten  minutes  beyond  the 
time,  and  continued  to  lecture  to  the  very  last  day  of 
the  session.  He  would,  for  instance,  spend  six  hours  a 
week  for  six  months,  in  explaining  grammatically,  criti 
cally,  historically,  dogmatically,  ethically,  practically, 
etc.,  the  first  eight  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro 
mans,  promising  to  finish  the  rest  the  next  session. 

The  prescribed  theological  course  in  Tubingen,  from 
which  no  exception  is  made  extends  over  four  years,  or 
eight  long  sessions,  there  being  but  five  or  six  weeks' 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN.  99 

vacation  in  spring  and  autumn.  But  the  first  two  ses 
sions  are  mostly  devoted  to  the  higher  branches  of  phi 
lology  and  philosophy.  The  students  read,  in  historical 
order,  the  great  systems  of  ancient  Greek  and  modern 
German  philosophy,  from  Plato  down  to  Hegel,  with  as 
much  earnestness  and  zeal  as  if  the  salvation  of  the  world 
depended  upon  the  abstruse  categories  of  metaphysics. 
This  preponderance  of  speculation  is  no  doubt  accom 
panied  by  serious  evils.  Many  a  youth  within  the  last 
twenty  or  thirty  years  has  been  unfitted  for  theology 
and  the  ministry  by  his  philosophical  studies,  which 
ended  in  the  embrace  of  Hegelian  pantheism,  and 
Straussian  infidelity.  Hence  various  reforms  have  been 
agitated  for  some  time  in  the  method  of  study,  and  Dr. 
Hoffman,  now  at  Berlin,  tried  to  introduce  some  radical 
changes  into  the  organization  of  the  jStift,  although 
without  success. 

But  the  first  and  principal  want  seems  to  be  a  reform 
of  philosophy  itself.  Man  will  never  cease  to  philoso 
phize  as  long  as  he  retains  the  inborn  noble  desire  to 
penetrate  from  the  outside  of  things  to  the  inside,  from 
the  surface  to  the  depth,  to  rise  from  the  particular  to 
the  general,  from  accidental  phenomena  to  the  eternal 
laws  and  principles,  and  to  comprehend  the  scattered 
fragments  of  knowledge  in  the  unity  and  harmony  of  a 
system.  But  the  false  philosophy  which  ruled  at  Tubin 
gen  for  so  long  a  time,  and  wrought  incalculable  mis 
chief  among  the  students,  the  logical  pantheism  and 
heartless,  arrogant  intellectualism  of  the  Strauss-Helge- 
lian  school,  should  and  must  give  way  to  a  positive 
Christian  philosophy,  that  bows  in  humble  reverence 


100          HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN. 

before  the  revealed  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  tends  to 
reconcile  reason  with  a  living  faith.  Philosophy  can 
only  be  cured  by  philosophy.  It  is  a  law  of  the  devils 
and  demons,  says  Gotlic,  that  they  must  get  out  at  the 
same  place  where  they  sneaked  in.  At  the  same  time 
exegetical  and  practical  studies  should  receive  more  at 
tention  than  heretofore,  and  not  be  treated  simply  in 
the  spirit  of  criticism,  but  with  constant  regard  to  the 
solemn  duties  of  the  ministry,  and  the  awful  realities  of 
eternity. 

The  dark  side  of  the  university  life  of  Tubingen  for 
the  last  twenty  years,  and  the  sad  consequences  of  the 
young  Hegelian  pantheism  were  graphically  pictured, 
in  1853,  by  an  anonymous,  but  highly-gifted  arid  pious 
lady,  in  a  novel  under  the  characteristic  title,  Eritis 
sicut  Deus,  the  motto  of  the  old  serpent.  It  created,  for 
a  time,  almost  as  great  a  sensation  in  the  literary  circles 
of  Germany,  as  Mrs.  Stowe's  Uncle  Tom  among  all 
classes  of  readers  in  America.  It  is  a  deeply  interest 
ing  book,  on  one  of  the  most  remarkable  phases  of  Ger 
man  speculation  and  infidelity.  But  by  introducing  liv 
ing  characters,  such  as  Vischer,  Baur,  Strauss,  Schwe- 
gler,  and  even  ladies  of  Tubingen,  who  can  easily  be 
recognized  by  the  experienced  reader  through  the  veil 
of  fictitious  names,  it  unfortunately  violates  the  rules  of 
good  taste,  assumes  somewhat  the  hideous  appearance  of 
a  libel,  and  is  calculated  to  enrage  the  very  men  whom 
it  should  seek  most  to  benefit  and  to  lead  back  from  the 
labyrinth  of  error  to  the  sunny  path  of  truth. 

The  period  of  this  false  philosophy  and  theology  may 
be  said  to  have  passed  for  Tiibingen  and  Wiirtemberg. 


HEIDELBERG  AND  TUBINGEN.          101 

Dr.  Vischcr,  a  classmate  and  friend  of  Strauss,  and  an 
unusually  smart  and  witty,  but  thoroughly  irreverent  and 
frivolous  professor  of  aesthetics,  received  a  serious  rebuke 
some  years  ago  from  the  government,  and  was  suspended, 
although  only  for  a  season.  He  has  now  accepted  a 
call  to  Zurich.  Strauss  has  long  given  up,  it  seems, 
all  interest  in  theology,  and  is  an  unhappy  man, 
divorced  from  his  wife,  the  former  actress  Agnese 
Schcbest,  and  moving  from  place  to  place.  His  pseudo- 
theology  or  mythology  ended  in  a  theatrical  comedy, 
and  the  comedy  in  a  tragedy.  Zcllcr  and  Schweglcr 
have  exchanged  the  theological  for  philosophical  and 
philological  pursuits,  for  which  they  are  far  better 
adapted,  and  the  former  left  Tiibingcn,  first  for  Bern, 
and  then  for  Marburg.  Dr.  Baur,  the  patriarch  of  the 
hypercritical  "  Tubingen  school,"  and  the  most  earnest 
and  learned  of  them  all,  is  declining  in  influence  us  lie 
advances  in  age.  The  most  popular  professor  of  theol 
ogy  now  is  his  complete  antipodc,  Dr.  Beck,  who  treats 
all  modern  novelties  with  the  silence  of  utter  contempt, 
and  professes  to  know  nothing  but  the  Bible  as  the  book 
of  life.  The  other  members  of  the  theological  faculty, 
Drs.  Landercr,  Palmer,  and  Oehler,  although  differing 
from  each  other  on  minor  points,  arc  without  exception 
decidedly  Christian  and  evangelical  scholars,  and  prom 
isc  a  better  future  for  the  church  of  Wurtemberff. 


SECOND  PART. 


GERMAN  THEOLOGY  AND  RELIGION. 


CHAPTER    XL 


CHURCH   AND    STATE   IN   GERMANY. 

The  Free-Church  System  of  America — Freedom  of  Dissent  in  England — 
The  State-Church  System  on  the  Continent— The  Roman  Catholic  Su 
premacy  over  the  State — Dependence  of  Protestantism  upon  the  State — 
The  Theory  of  the  Ecclesiastical  State-Supremacy  Exposed — The  evils 
of  State-Churchism — Frightful  Amount  of  Infidelity — Growing  Dissat 
isfaction  with  the  System — The  Attempted  Dissolution  of  the  Union  of 
Church  and  State,  by  the  Frankfort  Parliament — The  New  Prussian 
Constitution,  and  its  Guarantees  to  the  Independence  of  the  Church. 

THE  glory  of  America  is  a  free  Christianity,  inde 
pendent  of  the  secular  government,  and  supported  by 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  a  free  people.  This  is 
one  of  the  greatest  facts  in  modern  history.  Its  signifi 
cance  can  only  be  fully  estimated  by  a  careful  compar 
ison  with  the  state-churches  of  Europe,  both  Protestant 
and  Catholic,  beyond  which  it  marks  a  gigantic  progress. 
Whatever  be  the  defects  and  inconveniences  of  the  sep 
aration  of  church  and  state,  they  are  less  numerous  and 
serious  than  the  troubles  and  difficulties  which  continu 
ally  grow  out  of  their  union,  to  the  injury  of  both  par 
ties.  Our  self-sustaining  and  self-governing  Christianity 
calls  to  mind  the  heroic  age  of  the  church ;  with  this 
important  difference,  however,  that  in  the  first  three 
centuries  she  had  to  maintain  her  existence,  not  only 
without  any  help  from  the  Roman  empire,  but  against 


106  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

its  deadly  hatred  and  bloody  persecution,  whilst  in  our 
republic  she  enjoys  the  friendship  and  legal  protection 
of  the  civil  government,  to  which  she,  in  turn,  imparts 
moral  strength  and  stability,  so  that  the  two  powers  are 
here  really  a  benefit  and  indirect  support  to  each  other, 
without  unsettling  their  distinct  boundaries,  and  getting 
into  continual  collision  by  mutual  interference. 

We  do  not  assert,  by  any  means,  that  the  American 
system  is  perfect,  and  final ;  but  it  is  preferable  to  a 
hierarchical  rule  over  the  state  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  a  servile  subjection  of  the  church  to  the  secular 
power  on  the  other.  Body  and  soul  undoubtedly  belong 
together,  and  constitute  the  idea  of  man.  But  the  body 
is  not  the  soul,  nor  is  the  soul  the  body.  Each  has  its 
peculiar  members,  faculties  and  functions,  and  it  is  very 
important  that  both  should  enjoy  freedom  for  the  fulfil 
ment  of  their  mission.  The  spiritual  and  immortal  part 
must  rule,  of  course ;  but  not  by  putting  the  body  in 
chains,  but  by  aifording  it  healthy  and  vigorous  exer 
cise,  and  thus  making  it  a  willing  organ  for  higher  ends. 
In  the  perfect  kingdom  of  God  there  will  be  no  jealousy 
and  collision  of  powers,  but  Christ  will  rule  king  of 
nations,  as  he  now  ruleth  king  of  saints  in  his  church. 
In  the  present  order  of  the  world  we  must  render  unto 
Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's,  without  confounding  Caesar  with 
God,  or  God  with  Caesar. 

Great  Britain,  the  immediate  parent  of  the  United 
States,  maintains  two  ecclesiastical  establishments,  Epis 
copacy  in  England  and  Ireland,  and  Presbyterianism  in 
Scotland,  and  thus  still  holds  to  the  theory  of  state- 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY.  107 

churcliism.  But  in  practice  she  carries  religious  tolera 
tion  and  liberty  almost  as  far  as  her  full-grown  daugh 
ter,  especially  in  the  colonies,  and  the  heroic  sacrifices 
of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  furnish  even  a  more 
striking  illustration  of  the  vitality  and  power  of  the  vol 
untary  system  than  any  of  our  American  denomina 
tions. 

But  on  the  continent  of  Europe  such  a  thing  as  a 
free,  self-supporting  and  self-governing  church  is  hardly 
known,  and  exists  only  in  small  dissenting  sects,  which 
bear  no  comparison,  in  numerical  strength  and  import 
ance,  with  the  dissenting  bodies  of  England.  In  Ger 
many,  Austria,  Russia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Italy,  Spain, 
and  even  in  France,  and  Switzerland,  the  public  religion 
is  interwoven  with  the  state  by  ten  thousand  time-honor 
ed  ties,  which  it  seems  impossible  to  dissolve  without 
endangering  the  very  existence  of  the  church. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  it  is  true,  has  always 
asserted,  in  principle,  her  independence  of,  and  even 
her  supremacy  over  the  state,  which  she  aims  to  control 
and  make  subservient  to  her  interests  wherever  she  has 
the  power.  Her  centralized  organization,  compact 
unity,  imposing  hierarchy,  and  magic  influence  over  the 
mass  of  her  membership,  give  her  a  great  advantage 
over  divided  Protestantism  in  cases  of  a  collision  with 
the  civil  government.  But  in  the  first  place,  she  claims 
liberty  only  for  herself,  and  denies  it,  wherever  she  can, 
to  every  other  form  of  Christianity,  because  she  identi 
fies  her  organization  with  the  church  universal,  and 
regards  every  dissent  from  her  creed  and  discipline  as 
pernicious  and  damnable  heresy  and  schism.  In  the 


108  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

second  place,  by  her  domineering  and  hierarchical  spirit 
she  rouses  the  jealousy  and  opposition  of  the  temporal 
power  and  the  spirit  of  nationality  so  closely  connected 
with  it.  Some  of  the  greatest  popes  of  the  middle  ages 
spoke  of  the  state  with  the  utmost  contempt,  as  if  it 
was  of  purely  human,  or  even  diabolical  origin,  the  re 
sult  of  ambition,  conquest,  rapine,  and  murder,  and  not 
a  divine  institution.  Hence  the  long-continued  conflict 
between  the  pope  and  the  German  emperor,  even  in  the 
days  of  the  highest  power  of  the  former.  In  our  days 
I  believe  that  Romanism  is,  in  point  of  fact,  nowhere  so 
free  from  government  interference  as  in  England  (the 
Ecclesiastical  Titles-bill  to  the  contrary  notwithstand 
ing,)  and  the  United  States,  because  these  countries  the 
general  principle  of  religious  freedom  is  most  fully  de 
veloped.  In  France,  Gallicanism,  which  substitutes  ser 
vility  to  the  temporal  prince  for  servility  to  the  pope, 
still  exists  legally,  although  Ultramontanism  is  now 
in  the  ascendant,  and  in  such  countries  as  Spain, 
Italy,  Mexico,  and  South  America,  the  Catholic  govern 
ments  frequently  rob  the  sacred  property  of  the  church 
to  fill  their  empty  treasury.  In  Austria,  the  Romish 
Church  was  only  quite  recently  released  from  the  des 
potic  restrictions  of  the  Josephine  regime,  and  time 
must  reveal  whether  the  Concordat  of  1855  will  improve 
the  morals  and  prosperity  of  that  large  empire  or  not. 

As  to  Protestantism  in  Germany,  and  on  the  conti 
nent  generally,  it  is  ruled  and  almost  entirely  supported 
by  the  state,  and  this  not  only  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but 
on  the  Erastian  principle  of  the  supremacy  of  the  tem 
poral  power,  or  even  the  territorialistic  maxim,  cujus 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY.  109 

regio  ejus  religio,  a  principle  always  disowned,  and  prop 
erly  so,  by  the  Roman  church.  This  state  of  things 
dates  from  the  Reformation.  The  Protestant  princes 
and  magistrates  secularized  the  old  church  property, 
assumed  the  support  of  public  worship,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  supreme  authority  over  it.  On  this  fact  the 
theory  was  constructed  which  is  still  in  force  in  all 
Lutheran,  and  in  some  Reformed  churches,  that  the 
head  of  the  state  is  also  the  head,  or  summus  episcopus, 
of  the  church  within  his  territory. 

Strange  bishops,  indeed,  who  never  studied  theology, 
who  were  never  ordained,  who  could  never  preach  or 
administer  the  sacraments,  and  yet  claim  and  exercise 
supreme  authority  over  the  religion  of  their  subjects, 
fill  the  highest  ecclesiastical  offices,  and  issue  or  sanc 
tion  the  standards  of  public  doctrine  and  worship ! 
(Frederick  William  III.  actually  composed  the  new  Prus 
sian  liturgy  himself.)  Still  more  strange,  if  this  supreme 
governor  of  the  church,  as  he  is  called  in  England,  or 
summus  episcopus,  as  he  is  entitled  in  Lutheran  estab 
lishments,  is  a  mere  boy,  like  Edward  VI.,  or  a  lady, 
like  queen  Elizabeth,  and  Victoria,  of  England,  or  I 
Romanist,  like  the  kings  of  Saxony  and  Bavaria,  and 
the  emperor  of  Austria,  or  a  notorious  adulterer  like  the 
present  king  of  Wurtemberg,  or  a  professed  infidel,  like 
Frederick  II.  of  Prussia  ! 

It  is  true  there  were  not  a  few  wicked  popes  in  Rome, 
fox-hunting  bishops  in  England,  and  infidel  professors 
and  parsons  in  Germany.  But  one  inconsistency  does 
not  justify  another.  And  then  we  have  to  do  here  with 
a  false  principle,  and  not  simply  with  anomalous  excep- 
10 


110  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

tions.  It  is  equally  true,  on  the  other  hand,  that  many 
Protestant  princes,  from  the  elector  Frederick  the  Wise 
to  king  Frederick  William  IV.,  were  nursing  fathers  to 
the  church,  and  exercised  their  ecclesiastical  supremacy 
in  the  fear  of  God  and  to  the  best  interests  of  religion. 
But  this  only  shows  the  adaptability  of  Christianity, 
which  will  make  its  independent,  indestructible  life  felt 
under  all  outward  organizations  and  in  spite  of  them, 
and  proves  nothing  for  a  form  of  government  which 
places  the  highest  spiritual  authority  in  secular  hands, 
and  gives  bad  princes  as  much  power  to  destroy  the 
church  as  it  enables  good  monarchs  to  build  it  up. 
Popes,  bishops,  and  priests  have  at  times  made  excel 
lent  generals,  statesmen,  and  diplomatists,  especially  in 
the  middle  ages  ;  but  no  sensible  man  would  infer  from 
such  exceptions  that  the  clergy  should  be  entrusted  with 
the  management  of  the  army,  the  financ'es,  the  foreign 
affairs,  and  the  police. 

Nobody  can  deny  that  a  truly  Christian  government 
is  a  source  of  infinite  blessing  to  a  people,  and  if  the 
state  were  what  it  ought  to  be,  there  could  be  no  serious 
objection  to  its  union  with  the  church.  But  how  few 
governments,  alas  !  deserve  that  praise.  They  are  natu 
rally  selfish,  and  they  instinctively  subordinate  all  higher 
considerations  to  their  temporal  and  material  interests. 
The  world  has  just  seen  the  strange  spectacle— whether 
right  or  wrong — of  Protestant  England  and  Roman 
Catholic  France  and  Sardinia,  fighting  arm  and  arm 
with  the  infidel  Turk,  against  another  nominally  Chris 
tian  power.  His  Catholic  Apostolic  Majesty  of  Austria, 
by  a  shrewd,  shifting,  and  treacherous  diplomacy,  man- 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY.  Ill 

aged  to  keep  out  of  the  war,  and  sacrificed  all  religious 
interests  to  the  most  selfish  state-policy,  in  spite  of  the 
recent  concordat  of  Pius  IX.  The  continental  govern 
ments  not  only  support  theatres  and  all  sorts  of  shows 
and  amusements,  even  on  Sunday,  but  many  of  them 
actually  license  gambling  hells  and  houses  of  prostitu 
tion,  thus  putting  the  seal  of  their  approbation  upon  the 
worst  vices.  The  same  government  of  England  which 
professes  and  encourages  Christianity  at  home,  appro 
priates  from  ten  to  twelve  thousand  dollars  annually  to 
the  support  of  the  idolatry  of  Juggernaut  in  India, 
patronizes  an  institution  for  the  training  of  Mohame- 
dan  priests  in  Calcutta,  and  permits  the  East-India 
Company,  for  filthy  lucre's  sake,  to  poison  the  empire  of 
China,  i.  e.,  almost  one  third  of  the  human  race,  by  the 
infamous  opium-trade.  "  If  they  do  these  things  in  the 
green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  ?  "  Of  such 
governments,  or  misgovernments,  rather,  as  Naples, 
Spain,  and  Mexico,  we  will  only  say,  with  Dante,  "  Look, 
and  pass  on." 

Now  the  worst  is,  that,  owing  to  its  union  with  the  sec 
ular  power,  the  church  becomes  in  some  sense  responsi 
ble  for  nefarious  acts  which  she  cannot  prevent,  and  has 
to  bear  a  part  of  the  blame.  But  this  is  not  the  only 
evil  resulting  from  this  mis-alliance.  We  will  mention  a 
few  more. 

The  state-church  system  tends  to  secularize  the 
church,  to  convert  it  into  a  sort  of  higher  police,  and 
institution  of  the  government  for  the  intellectual  and 
moral  training  of  its  subjects,  and  to  fill  the  ranks  of 
the  clergy  with  unconverted  men,  who  seek  the  holy 


112  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

ministry  simply  from  secular  motives,  like  any  other 
state  office.  In  spite  of  all  the  orthodox  instruction, 
the  masses  look  upon  the  holy  sacrament  of  baptism, 
and  the  solemn  right  of  confirmation,  merely  or  pre 
dominantly  in  the  light  of  civil  acts,  which  entitle  them 
to  the  prerogatives  of  an  earthly  citizenship  ;  and  the 
time  is  yet  within  men's  memory  when,  in  several  coun 
tries  of  Germany,  the  majority  of  theological  students 
and  clergymen  were  either  absolutely  indifferent,  or  bit 
terly  hostile  to  active  piety  and  religion.  What  a  mon 
strous  contradiction  ! 

In  the  next  place,  the  union  of  the  two  powers  accus 
toms  the  people,  moreover,  to  depend  upon  the  govern 
ment  for  the  supply  of  all  their  spiritual  wants,  and 
thus  prevents  the  free  and  full  development  of  the  duty 
and  virtue  of  Christian  liberality  and  benevolence.  The 
indirect  support  of  the  church  by  the  payment  of  com 
pulsory  taxes  rather  weakens  than  strengthens  the  at 
tachment  of  the  masses  to  the  church,  while  the  volun 
tary  system  is  calculated  to  make  men  feel  and  appre 
ciate  more  highly  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel. 

In  the  third  place,  the  system  hampers  and  cripples 
the  energies  of  the  church,  and  keeps  her  in  a  state  of 
continual  pupilage,  contrary  to  the  truly  Protestant  idea 
of  the  general  priesthood  and  kingship  of  all  believers. 
In  many  sections  of  Germany,  especially  the  northern 
regions,  where  Lutheranism  prevails,  the  congregations 
are  almost  as  passive,  dependent,  and  incapable  of  self- 
government,  as  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
Luther's  complaint  of  the  want  of  material  for  elders 
and  deacons,  must  be  repeated  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY.  113 

tury,  after  Protestantism  has  been  in  operation  for 
more  than  three  hundred  years.  The  people  are  only  ex 
pected  to  be  ruled,  and  hence  they  have  no  chance  to 
learn  individual  and  congregational  self-government, 
which  must  be  gradually  acquired  like  every  other  art. 
Nobody  ever  learned  to  swim  by  keeping  on  the  dry 
land.  More  recently  the  church  authorities  of  Prussia, 
and  Wiirtemberg  have  made  some  progress  in  the  right 
direction,  by  introducing  responsible  lay  officers,  after 
the  model  of  the  Reformed  churches,  which  were  always 
distinguished  by  greater  freedom  and  independence  on 
the  basis  of  congregational  self-government. 

Finally,  the  system  fills  the  church  with  the  most 
heterogeneous  membership,  from  the  highest  piety  to 
unblushing  atheism  and  gross  immorality ;  leads  to  a 
frequent  profanation  of  the  sacraments  by  their  indis 
criminate  administration,  makes  discipline  almost  impos 
sible,  tends  to  beget  hypocrisy  and  infidelity,  and  brings 
down  a  large  amount  of  popular  hatred  and  discontent 
upon  the  church,  which  would  otherwise  be  directed 
only  against  the  secular  government. 

It  is  unfortunately  only  too  true  that  the  majority  of 
the  nominal  membership  in  most  of  the  state-churches  of 
Europe,  whether  Protestant,  Roman  Catholic,  or  Greek 
Catholic,  disgrace  their  baptismal  and  confirmation  vows, 
and  care  less  for  religion  than  pious  heathen,  and  yet 
all  their  children  must  be  baptized  again  on  the  hypo 
critical  profession  of  the  parents  or  sponsors.    It  is  only 
too  true  that  an  amount  of  concealed  and  open  hostility 
exists   there  to   the   church   and  to  Christianity  itself, 
which  is  almost  unknown  in  the  United  States,  or  even 

10* 


114  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

in  England.  The  Italian,  French,  and  German  infidels, 
revolutionists,  anarchists,  if  they  had  the  power,  would 
not  only  dissolve  the  union  of  church  and  state,  but 
destroy  the  church  altogether,  which  they  hate  with 
diabolical  hatred,  as  the  supposed  backbone  of  all  polit 
ical  despotism.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  another  general 
outbreak,  like  that  of  1848,  would  reenact  the  mad 
deeds  of  the  first  French  revolution,  which  abolished 
the  Christian  religion,  and  expelled  or  guillotined  its 
ministers. 

The  question  now  arises,  Will  this  union  of  church 
and  state  continue  much  longer  ?  The  signs  of  the 
times  seem  to  favor  an  answer  in  the  negative.  The 
overthrow  of  the  system  may  lie  yet  in  the  distant  fu 
ture,  or  may  be  prevented  by  essential  modifications  of 
the  system  itself.  But  in  its  present  form  it  is  certainly 
strongly  undermined  in  public  opinion.  Even  in  Eng 
land,  where  there  is  much  less  cause  of  complaint,  in 
view  of  the  almost  unlimited  freedom  of  dissent,  the 
ecclesiastical  establishments  have  been  weakened  step 
by  step,  so  as  to  embrace  now  hardly  more  than  one 
half  of  the  religious  population.  And  yet  religion  itself 
seems  not  to  have  suffered  thereby.  On  the  contrary, 
even  the  Anglican  and  the  Presbyterian  churches  are 
now  in  a  more  flourishing  spiritual  condition  than  they 
were  before,  having  been  roused  to  an  honorable  rivalry 
by  the  activity  of  the  dissenters  around  them.  English 
institutions  and  events  exert  a  powerful  influence  upon 
the  continent,  especially  the  Protestant  countries.  To 
this  must  be  added  the  still  more  powerful  fact  of  Amer 
ican  Christianity,  which  has  now  existed  for  nearly  a 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY.  115 

century  in  absolute  independence  of  the  state,  and 
yet  shows  more  signs  of  life  than  any  ecclesiastical 
establishment  in  Europe. 

The  liberal  party  in  Germany  is  pretty  well  prepared, 
if  not  for  an  entire  dissolution  of  the  relation,  at  least 
for  the  broadest  development  of  the  principle  of  dissent 
after  the  English  model.  An  entire  separation,  it  is 
true,  would  be  altogether  undesirable  under  the  present 
circumstances,  and  could  only  be  the  result  of  great 
political  events,  or  a  radical  revolution,  such  as  no 
peace-loving  citizen  can  desire  or  help  to  bring  about. 

The  great  majority  of  pious  people  in  Germany  are 
strongly  conservative,  also  in  this  respect.  They  cherish 
the  idea  of  a  Christian  state  as  a  sacred  inheritance  of  the 
past.  They  value  the  union  especially  also  for  this  rea 
son,  that  it  brings  the  whole  population,  every  child  that 
is  born,  under  the  influence  and  training  of  the  church. 
They  get  over  the  objections  and  evils  above  mentioned, 
by  looking  to  the  Jewish  theocracy,  which  was  far  from 
being  perfect  in  its  membership,  and  yet  of  divine  insti 
tution.  They  shrink  from  the  prospect  of  a  dissolution 
of  the  time-honored  bond,  as  opening  the  way  for  the 
reign  of  American  sectarianism,  and  the  unrestrained 
power  of  European  infidelity,  which  is  still  worse  than 
the  former.  The  ministers  fear  also  for  the  temporal 
support  of  their  families,  which  would  be  endangered  by 
their  being  thrown  upon  the  mercy  of  a  people  so  en 
tirely  unaccustomed  to  the  voluntary  principle,  and  in  a 
great  measure  indifferent  or  even  hostile  to  the  church. 
They  can  not,  or  will  not,  look  beyond  the  immediate 
results  of  a  sudden  overthrow  of  the  ecclesiastical  estab- 


116  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

lishment  which,  in  all  human  probability,  would  be  dis 
astrous  in  the  extreme. 

But,  on  the  other  side,  many  of  the  best  ministers  are 
becoming  so  utterly  disgusted  with  the  evils  of  the  union 
of  church  and  state  that  they  have  no  hope  but  from  a 
free  Christianity,  which  would  outlive  the  storm  of  a 
revolution,  and  in  the  end  regenerate  the  nation.  I 
heard  a  prominent  evangelical  divine  of  Wurtemberg 
say,  "  We  clergymen  are  looked  upon  now  by  the  people 
as  servants  of  the  king  and  black-robed  police  officers 
(schwarze  Polizeidiener) ;  but  when  we  shall  be  free 
from  state  support,  and  state  control,  they  will  begin  to 
esteem  and  love  us  again  as  servants  of  Christ  and  true 
friends  of  the  people." 

In  1848  the  state-church  system  was  on  the  very 
brink  of  destruction.  The  German  Parliament  of  Frank 
fort  proclaimed  full  liberty  of  religion  and  irreligion,  and 
complete  emancipation  of  the  state  and  school  from  the 
church  and  Christianity.  This  was  evidently  a  radical 
measure,  and,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  infidel 
speeches  of  some  of  its  chief  supporters,  as  Professor 
Vogt,  the  atheist  and  materialist,  it  looked  far  more 
to  the  freedom  of  irreligion  than  to  the  freedom  of  the 
church.  It  was  well  enough,  therefore,  that  it  re 
mained  on  paper,  with  the  other  acts  of  that  assembly. 
It  helped  only  to  strengthen  the  reaction,  and  with  it  the 
ecclesiastical  establishments,  which  appear  to  be  more 
firm  now  than  before  the  revolution.  And  yet  the  state 
of  things  has  undergone  an  important  change  since,  after 
all,  and  the  wild  movements  of  1848  have  not  been  in  vain. 

For  the  new  constitution  of  Prussia,  adopted  January 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY.  117 

31.  1850,  and  still  in  force,  declares  likewise,  only  in  a 
far  more  cautious  and  moderate  way  than  the  Frankfort 
Assembly,  and  in  a  manner  altogether  respectful  to  re 
ligion,  the  entire  freedom  of  the  churches  from  the  state, 
and  the  independence  of  civil  and  political  rights  upon 
the  religious  profession.  As  this  is  a  most  important 
fact  in  modern  ecclesiastico-political  legislation,  we  may 
be  permitted  to  quote,  in  full,  the  famous  articles  of  the 
Verfassungsurkunde,  which  have  been  called  the  Magna 
Charta  of  religious  liberty  in  Prussia. 

ART.  XII. — Die  Freiheit  des  religiosen  Bekenntnisses,  der  Ver- 
einigung  zu  Religionsgesellschaften,  und  der  gemeinsamen  hiiuslichen 
und  offentlicken  Religionsiibung  wird  gewahrleistet.  Der  Genuss 
der  burgerlichen  und  staatsburgerlichen  Rechte  ist  unabhangig  von 
dem  religiosen  Bekenntnisse.  Den  burgerlichen  und  staatsbiirger 
lichen  Rechten  darf  durch  die  Ausiibung  der  Religionsfreiheit  kein 
Abbruch  geschehen. 

ART.  XIII. — Die  Religionsgesellschaften,  sowie  die  geistlichen  Ge- 
scllschaften,  welche  keine  Corporationsrechte  haben,  konnen  diese 
Rechte  nur  durch  besondere  Gesetze  erlangen. 

ART.  XIV. — Die  christliche  Religion  wird  bei  denjenigen  Einrich- 
tungen  des  Staats,  welche  mit  der  Religionsiibung  im  Zusammenhange 
stehen,  unbeschadet  der  in  Art.  XII  gewahrleisteten  Religionsfreiheit, 
zum  Grunde  gelegt. 

ART.  XV.— Die  Evangelische  und  die  Romisch— Katholische  Kirche, 
sowie  jede  andere  Religions — Gesellschaft  ordnet  und  verwaltet  ihre 
Angelegenheiten  selbstandig  und  bleibt  im  Besitz  und  Genuss  der 
fiir  ihre  Cultus,  Unterrichts  und  Wohlthatigkeits-zwecke  bestimmten 
Anstalten,  Stiftungen  und  Fonds. 

These  provisions  then  guarantee  both  the  freedom  of 
the  church  and  the  freedom  of  the  state,  and  separate 
the  two  spheres  without  infringing  upon  the  sacred 


118  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  GERMANY. 

rights  of  ecclesiastical  property.  But  in  point  of  fact 
the  Evangelical  Church  is  still  dependent  upon  state 
control  and  state  support,  and  the  dissenting  sects  are 
placed  under  various  restrictions.  The  reactionary 
party  in  the  Prussian  chambers,  headed  by  Ludwig  von 
Gerlach  and  Stahl,  both  men  of  commanding  genius  and 
unblemished  moral  and  religious  character,  made  an 
attempt  recently  to  erase  from  the  constitution  the 
sentence  in  the  twelfth  article,  which  declares  the  en 
joyment  of  civil  and  political  rights,  independent  of 
religious  profession,  with  the  view  especially  to  exclude 
the  Jews  from  civil  and  political  equality  with  the  Chris 
tians.  But  a  motion  to  that  effect,  proposed  by  Legat- 
ionsrath  Wagner  (the  editor  of  the  reactionary  Kreuz- 
zeitung,  although,  strange  to  say,  himself  a  dissenter 
from  the  state  religion,  viz  :  an  Irvingite,)  was  not  sup 
ported  by  the  government,  and  defeated  in  the  second 
chamber,  February,  1856. 

The  question,  then,  for  Prussia,  now  comes  to  this, 
whether  the  articles  of  the  constitution  which  guaran 
tee  full  religious  liberty,  both  public  and  private,  and 
give  every  recognized  ecclesiastical  corporation  the  right 
of  self-government,  shall  remain  a  dead  letter,  or  whether 
it  shall  be  gradually  and  wisely  carried  out. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


THE   CONFLICT    FOR    RELIGIOUS   FREEDOM. 

The  Bunsen-Stahl  Controversy— Stahl's  Views  on  Christian  Toleration— 
Bunsen's  "  Signs  of  the  Times  " — Opposition  to  Bunsen — Response  to 
his  Plea  for  Religious  Freedom — Position  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  and 
the  approaching  Meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  Berlin. 

BEFORE  we  dismiss  the  consideration  of  the  relation 
of  church  and  state  in  Germany,  we  must  take  notice 
of  the  famous  Bunsen-Stahl  controversy  on  religious 
toleration  and  freedom,  which  made  so  much  sensation 
recently,  and  affords  us  a  clear  insight  into  the  present 
state  of  parties  concerning  this  important  subject. 

The  controversy  originated  with  a  very  able  address 

of  Professor  Stahl,  the  distinguished  lawyer,  and  member 

both  of  the  Prussian  Staatsrath,  and  Oberkirchenrath,  on 

Christian    toleration,   delivered   at  Berlin,   March    29, 

1855,  for  the  Evangelical  Association,  in  the  presence  of 

a  part  of  the  court,  and  a  highly  intelligent  audience, 

which  may  be  called  the  Christian  aristocracy  of  Berlin. 

The  address  starts  with  the  assertion  that  the  God  of 

the  Old  and  New  Testament  is  the  only  true  God,  and 

jealous  of  his  honor.     So  also  the  revealed  religion  of 

the  Bible  is  essentially  exclusive  and  intolerant  against 

all  false  gods  and  forms  of  idolatry.    Christianity  claims 

to  be  the  only  true  and  universal  religion,  out  of  which 

there  is  no  salvation,  and  can,  therefore,  not  be  indifferent 


120  THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

towards  any  form  of  error,  which  deprives  God  of  his 
honor,  and  endangers  the  salvation  of  man.  Under 
this  view  it  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  modern  the 
ory  of  toleration  as  proclaimed  by  Voltaire  in  France, 
Frederick  II.  in  Prussia,  and  Jefferson  in  America, 
which  places  all  religions,  Christian,  Jewish,  Mohame- 
dan,  and  heathen,  on  a  perfect  equality,  from  sheer  in 
difference  to  religion  itself,  or  from  downright  infidelity. 
The  heathen  Pilate,  and  Lessing's  Nathan  the  Wise  may 
skeptically  ask,  "  What  is  truth  ?  "  But  Christ  says, 
"  I  am  the  truth."  Hence  the  cardinal  virtue  of  the 
Christian  is  not  this  toleration  of  the  century  of  revo 
lution  and  infidelity,  which  at  times  has  shown  itself 
most  intolerant  to  Christianity  itself,  but  unswerving 
devotion  to  the  truth  as  revealed  in  Christ,  zeal  for  the 
glory  of  the  only  true  and  living  God,  and  the  propa 
gation  of  his  kingdom  for  the  salvation  of  the  whole 
world. 

Nevertheless,  Stahl  continues,  Christianity  includes  a 
toleration  far  deeper  than  ever  entered  the  mind  or 
heart  of  man  before,  and  for  this  he  pleads.  True 
Christian  toleration  rests  on,  and  consists  in,  that  love 
and  charity  which  beareth  all  things,  and  hopeth  all 
things  ;  that  humility  which,  conscious  of  its  own  sin 
and  error,  abstains  from  judging  others ;  that  high 
appreciation  of  the  image  of  God  in  man,  which  the 
Gospel  only  can  enjoin  ;  and  finally,  in  the  conviction 
that  God  has  reserved  the  full  separation  of  the  tares 
from  the  wheat  to  himself,  for  the  judgment  day.  All 
this  is  perfectly  compatible  with  the  strictest  and  most 
faithful  adherence  to  divine  truth. 

But  now  the  difficult  practical  question  arises  as  to 


THE  CONFLICT  FOE  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM.  121 

the  duty  of  a  Christian  state,  in  view  of  the  different 
churches  and  sects  which  all  claim  to  be  sound  foms  rf 
Chmtiamty  and  to  have  an  equal  right  to  protection. 

betw  e    ?°  f^    f     dra"S  a  Sharp  Hne  °f  d!stinctio« 
etaeen  the  Anglo-American,  and  what  he  regards  as  the 

true  German  theory  of  toleration.  The  former,  which 
he  adnuts  M  making  considerable  progress  in  Germany, 
amounts  to  a  Virtual  surrender  of  the  idea  of  the  church 
as  an  orgamc  unity,  in  favor  of  the  principle  of  "de 
pendency,  and  places  all  evangelical  confessions  and 
sects  on  a  perfect  c,vil  and  religious  equality,  so  that  the 
fence  between  church  and  sect  disappears  altogether 

ChrVt          f  t0  the  i<Jea  °f  the  °hurch  «'  ^e 

niedUot  faCterf°f.the  State'and  -f—  to  recog- 
*  all  sorts  of  confessions  and  sects  in  their  corporate 
capacity,  such  as  Baptists  and  Methodists,  while  it 
ready  to  acknowledge  the  children  of  God  among  them 
as  breth  Christ;  because  ^  «-*• 

the:     sectanan   connection.     The   mission   of   German 
Protestantism  is  the  unity  of  the  church,  and  not  a  con 


e  p  ,  but  the  result  ,„  any  case  will  be  one  church  an 
not  an  indefinite  number  of  coordinate  sects.  The  sou 

intere  r    T!"    Pagand'Sm  *°  the  inW  of  ^  own 
-The  concession,  moi-eover,  in  every  particu 

Mt  the  state-churcha'u      r." 


122     THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

ties,  and  they  have  no  reason  to  he  very  liberal  toward 
domestic  disturbers  and  foreign  propagandists. 

Nor  can  the  Protestantism  of  Germany,  according  to 
Stahl,  permit  itself  to  be  drawn  by  English  dissenters 
into  a  radical  and  passionate  war  against  Romanism. 
The  "  Evangelical  Alliance,"  while  it  professes  the 
greatest  liberality  toward  all  Protestant  sects,  still 
inconsistently  adheres  to  the  uncompromising  hostility 
of  old  Puritanism  against  Popery,  as  if  it  was  no  part 
of  Christ's  kingdom  at  all,  but  identical  with  anti-Christ. 
But  German  Protestantism,  with  all  its  essential  differ 
ence,  has  a  bond  of  union  with  the  Catholic  Church, 
before  and  after  the  Reformation,  and  must  aim  at  a 
final  reconciliation  of  the  schism. 

This,  according  to  Stahl,  is  the  highest  and  most  com 
prehensive  form  of  toleration  and  catholicity,  not  in  the 
Romish  sense  of  compulsory  uniformity,  but  in  the  sense 
of  free  fullness  and  totality.  It  looks  to  the  ultimate 
comprehension  of  the  three  great  confessions  into  which 
Christendom  is  now  unhappily,  but  providentially,  di 
vided,  viz  :  the  Roman  Catholic,  Lutheran,  and  Re 
formed  (he  leaves  out  of  sight  the  Greek  communion,) 
so  as  to  constitute  at  last  one  undivided  economy  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  to  which  their  separate  missions  pre 
pare  the  way.  The  Roman  Church  has  the  peculiar 
mission  to  represent  and  preserve  the  visible  unity  and 
historical  continuity  of  Christianity  up  to  the  apostolic 
age.  Calvinism  is  distinguished  for  its  profound  fear  of 
God,  its  energetic  faith,  its  missionary  zeal,  and  tries  to 
build  up  a  world  of  Christian  institutions  on  the  basis  of 
the  holy  congregation  of  believers.  Lutheranism  unfolds 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM.  123 

the  deepest  mysteries  of  faith,  and  labors  to  show  the 
harmony  and  interpenetration  of  the  divine  and  human, 
the  spiritual  and  natural  in  the  person  of  Christ  and  his 
holy  sacrament.  These  peculiar  charismata  must  all  be 
preserved  and  taken  up  into  the  final  constitution  of  the 
church  universal. 

The  expectation  of  such  a  church,  concludes  Stahl, 
which  is  elevated  above  all  earthly  confessions,  and  yet 
combines  all  their  excellences,  makes  us  truly  tolerant, 
not  in  the  indifference,  but  in  the  most  conscientious 
fidelity  to  the  divine  truth,  and  to  the  particular  branch 
of  Christ's  kingdom,  in  which  we  were  born,  and  to 
which  we  are  sworn. 

There  is  much  in  these  views  to  which  we  can  heartily 
subscribe.  There  can  be  no  doubt  among  sound  divines 
that  Christianity  is  the  only  true  and  absolute  religion, 
and  that  its  development  must  lead  at  last,  not  to  a  mere 
friendship  and  brotherhood  of  sects,  much  less  to  divis 
ion  and  distraction,  but  to  one  flock  under  one  shepherd, 
to  an  organic  union  of  all  believers,  to  one  holy  catholic 
kingdom,  that  shall  include  in  its  divine  harmony  every 
thing  that  is  true,  and  good,  and  noble,  and  beautiful  in 
the  different  branches  and  periods  of  the  militant  church. 

But  the  surest  and  quickest  way  to  this  very  end  is 
just  the  freest  development  of  Christianity,  with  all  its 
energies  and  powers,  and  not  a  mechanical  square- 
and-compass  system,  which  only  retards  its  real  pro 
gress.  Stahl  is  mistaken  as  to  the  means.  He  con 
founds  the  free  spirit  of  the  Gospel  with  the  legalism  of 
the  Jewish  dispensation.  The  New  Testament  furnishes 
not  one  single  passage  in  favor  of  the  state-church  sys- 


124  THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

tern,  and  still  less  in  favor  of  any  compulsion  in  matters 
of  conscience  and  religion.  Christianity  was  born  free 
from  the  state,  and  though  living  in  this  world,  it  is  not  of 
this  world,  and  must  be  propagated  by  spiritual  means,  in 
a  free,  uncrippled  way.  And  then,  his  view  of  the  extent 
of  the  church  is  too  contracted.  He  does  great  injus 
tice  to  several  branches  of  Protestantism  which  have  as 
good  a  mission  to  fulfil  as  he  concedes  to  three  denomi 
nations  only,  taking  the  Reformed  in  a  very  restricted 
sense.  We  are  no  advocates  for  any  particular  sect ; 
but  history  teaches  that  Methodism  has  done,  and  still 
does,  as  good  a  work  for  England  and  America,  as 
Spener's  Pietism  for  Germany,  and  that  the  Baptists, 
whom  Stahl  despises  as  mere  disturbers,  are  more  active 
in  the  distribution  of  the  Bible,  and  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen,  than  any  Lutheran  state-church. 
It  is  very  possible,  also,  that  greater  religious  move 
ments  may  yet  arise  from  the  inexhaustible  fountain  of 
Christianity,  than  even  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  without  permission  from  any  minister  of  wor 
ship,  or  Oberkirchenrath.  Protestantism,  if  it  is  to 
maintain  itself  at  all,  must  take  a  far  more  spiritual  and 
comprehensive  view  of  the  church,  than  Romanism.  It 
becomes  necessarily  inconsistent,  or  stops  half  way, 
when  it  takes  a  stand,  open  or  concealed,  direct  or  indi 
rect,  against  religious  or  civil  liberty. 

Stahl's  views  in  connection  with  some  cases  of  actual 
persecution  for  conscience  sake,  called  forth  the  "  Signs 
of  the  Times,"  (2  vols.,  1855,)  by  Chevalier  Dr.  Bun- 
sen,  formerly  Prussian  ambassador  at  London,  now  re 
siding  near  Heidelberg,  in  literary  retirement.  He 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM.  125 

regards  Stahl's  tract  on  religious  toleration  as  a  con 
cealed  plea  for  intolerance,  which  would  justify,  in  prin 
ciple,  the  most  bloody  persecutions  of  the  Romish 
Church.  He  takes  up  the  pen  for  religious  liberty  in 
opposition  to  all  intolerance,  whether  it  proceed  from 
Romanism  or  Protestantism.  His  views  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  following  points. 

1.  The  absolutism  of  the  state  strengthens  the  abso 
lutism  of  the  hierarchy. 

2.  Protestantism  never    developed   itself   vigorously 
and  nationally,  except  where  it  produced  civil  liberty  as 
the  legitimate  fruit  of  ecclesiastical  reform. 

3.  Civil  liberty  can  only  succeed  on  the  basis  of  self- 
government,  and  this  is  impossible  without  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  the  religious  rights  of  the  congregation. 

4.  The    hierarchy  or  priestcraft,   claims  freedom    of 
conscience  only  for  itself,  and  instinctively  opposes  it 
in  others. 

5.  Religious  freedom  never  led  yet  to  political  revo 
lution  ;  but  its  oppression  has  done  so  in  France  and 
elsewhere. 

6.  Intolerance   and  persecution  are  a  curse  to   any 
government  and  people,  but  especially  so  to  a  Protestant 
government,  because  they  involve  an  inward  contradic 
tion. 

With  all  these  positions  Bunsen  still  holds  to  the 
state-church  theory,  and  especially  to  the  Prussian 
Union.  He  simply  pleads  for  the  fullest  toleration  of 
all  dissenters,  provided,  only,  that  they  do  not  violate 
the  laws  of  the  state,  or  of  public  morality.  His  posi 
tion,  therefore,  is  substantially  English,  and  not  Ameri- 

11* 


126  THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

can,  although  he  speaks  with  the  highest  respect  of  the 
United  States,  and  especially  of  the  influence  of  Puri 
tanism  and  Congregationalism  on  civil  and  religious  lib 
erty.  But  we  regret  to  say  that  our  esteemed  friend 
has  mixed  up  with  his  noble  and  spirited  defence  of  re 
ligious  and  political  freedom,  a  good  deal  of  theological 
neology  and  latitudinarianism,  which  would  be  rejected 
as  unsound  and  dangerous,  both  in  England  and  in  this 
country.  He  makes  too  little  account  of  confessions 
and  creeds,  and  spreads  the  mantle  of  union  so  far,  that 
Luther,  Lessing,  Hegel,  and  Gothe,  may  dwell  under  it 
in  peace,  and  commune  at  the  same  table  of  the  Lord. 

Hence  the  orthodox  party  denounced  Bunsen,  forget 
ful  of  his  former  services  to  evangelical  religion,  in  most 
unsparing  terms.  Ilengstenberg,  in  his  Vorwort  for  1856, 
treats  the  "  Signs  of  the  Times  "  as  a  perfectly  worth 
less  book,  filled  only  with  idle  wind,  (why,  then,  make 
such  a  fuss  about  it  ?)     He  calls  the  author  an  apostate 
from  Christianity  to  radicalism  and  pantheism,  applies 
to  him  the  passage  of  the  unclean  spirit,  who  returns 
with    seven    others  worse  than   himself,   compares  his 
Christian  phrases  with  the  kiss  of  the  traitor,  arid  yet 
calls  on  him,  in  conclusion,  to  repent !     This  is  strong 
enough,  in  all  conscience.     Leo,  of  Halle,  handled  him 
with    equal   severity.      Stahl   wrote   a  lengthy   reply, 
(Wider  Bunsen,  3d  ed.,  1856,)  which  his  admirers  and 
sympathizers  hailed  as  a  complete  extinguisher  ;  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that,  as  a  logical  reasoner  and  skillful 
dialectician,  he  is  superior  to  his  more  brilliant  oppo 
nent,  exposes  many  weak  points  very  successfully,  and 
fortifies  his  own  position  in  regard  to  toleration  and  the 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM.  127 

Prussian  Union,  apparently  with  more  consistency  on 
the  conceded  basis  of  state-churchism.  He  charges 
upon  Bunsen  the  attempt  to  deprive  Germany  of  its 
best  possession,  the  church,  and  forcing  upon  it  the  worst 
feature  of  America, — the  curse  of  sectarianism, — with 
out  giving  it  the  American  faith  and  practical  Christian 
ity. 

But  the  general  principle  of  religious  liberty  met 
with  a  hearty  response  throughout  Germany,  and  its 
advocacy  made  the  celebrated  ex-diplomatist  suddenly 
one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  those  very  circles  where 
he  was  formerly  disliked  on  account  of  his  religious 
views.  His  Signs  of  the  Times  passed  through  three 
editions  in  a  few  weeks.  Public  opinion  pointed  him 
out  already  as  the  future  minister  of  public  worship  in 
Prussia.  The  "  Protestantische  Kirchenzeitung"  of 
Berlin,  boldly  declared,  in  a  review  of  his  book  (N.  7, 
1856,)  "  The  liberty  of  conscience  is  a  power  of  the 
present  age,  an  idea  which  takes  hold,  with  divine  irre 
sistibility,  of  all  hearts  and  of  all  nations,  from  which 
no  man  and  no  state  can  escape  for  any  length  of  time." 
That  the  liberal  political  organs  of  the  press  should  fall 
in  with  this  view,  and  even  go  beyond  it,  was  to  be  ex 
pected  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  what  is  more  signifi 
cant,  is  the  fact  that  some  decidedly  evangelical  divines, 
as  Dr.  Schenkel,  of  Heidelberg,  and  Dr.  Dorner,  of 
Gottingen,  have  openly  come  out  for  Bunsen,  and 
against  Stahl  and  Hengstenberg. 

A  third  party  which  has  mixed  in  the  controversy, 
takes  middle  ground  between  the  two  extremes.  So 
Dr.  Krummacher.  He  agrees  with  Stahl  in  his  attach- 


128  THE  CONFLICT  FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

ment  to  an  established  church  on  decidedly  orthodox, 
though  less  exclusive  grounds,  but  asks,  at  the  same 
time,  full  toleration  for  dissenting  sects  of  an  evangeli 
cal  character,  has  greater  sympathy  with  the  Reformed 
Christianity  in  and  out  of  Germany,  and  favors  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  whose  professed  object  is  the  pro 
motion  of  religious  liberty  throughout  the  world. 

This  seems  to  be  also  the  position  of  the  King  of 
Prussia,  who  was  formerly  an  intimate  friend  of  Bun- 
sen.  He  painfully  feels  the  weight  of  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  of  the  crown,  and  declared  once  publicly 
that  he  wished  the  time  would  soon  arrive  when  he 
could  place  it  back  into  the  proper  hands,  and  let  the 
church  manage  her  own  aifairs  independent  of,  though 
in  friendly  union  with,  the  state.  Although  he  heard 
Stahl's  famous  address  before  the  Evangelical  Asso 
ciation,  and  allows  him  and  his  small,  but  powerful 
party  a  very  large  share  in  the  present  management  of 
the  church  and  the  state,  he  expressed  himself,  on  sev 
eral  occasions,  decidedly  averse  to  all  religious  intoler 
ance  and  persecution,  and  recently  extended,  even 
against  the  advice  of  his  minister  of  worship,  and  the 
views  of  the  reactionary  party,  a  cordial  invitation  to 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  to  meet  at  Berlin  in  1857. 
This,  too,  is  a  sign  of  the  times. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


THE   ESTABLISHED    CHURCHES. 

Numerical  Proportion  of  Roman  Catholics  to  Protestants — Mixed  Religious 
Character  of  most  German  States — The  three  Protestant  Churches — Lu- 
theranism — The  Reformed  Confession — The  Evangelical  Union. 

EVER  since  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  (1648,)  which 
brought  the  thirty  years'  war  to  a  close,  and  secured  to 
the  two  contending  parties  full  liberty  of  worship  and 
equality  of  civil  rights,  Germany  was  almost  equally 
divided  between  Roman  Catholicism  and  Evangelical 
Protestantism.  The  former  is  numerically  stronger, 
(21,092,000,)  but  the  latter,  (16,415,000,)  makes  up  the 
deficiency  by  a  decided  intellectual  superiority.  The 
Greek  Church  is  confined  to  the  Sclavonic  population  of 
Austria,  and  a  small  part  of  Prussia.  The  Jews  are 
scattered  everywhere  in  considerable  numbers,  especially 
in  the  large  cities.  Upon  the  whole,  the  south  of  Ger 
many  is  predominantly  Roman  Catholic,  the  north  pre 
dominantly  Protestant.  In  Austria  about  five-sevenths, 
in  Bavaria  about  two-thirds,  of  the  population  profess 
the  papal  creed.  Prussia  numbers  ten  millions  of  Prot 
estants,  and  six  millions  of  Catholics,  while  the  kingdom 
of  Saxony,  the  Saxon  Principalities,  and  Mecklenburg, 
are  almost  entirely  Lutheran.  In  Hanover,  Wurtem- 


130  THE  ESTABLISHED  CHURCHES. 

burg,  Baden,  Hesse  Cassel,  and  Hesse  Darmstadt,  Nas 
sau,  Oldenburg,  and  the  four  Free  Cities,  the  Protestant 
Confession  has  likewise  the  preponderance.  But  there 
is  hardly  a  single  state  in  Germany  where  the  two 
churches  are  not  mixed,  the  Catholics  being  subject  to 
a  Protestant,  or  the  Protestants  to  a  Catholic  monarch. 
In  Saxony,  we  have  the~singular*anomaly,  that  a  Roman 
Catholic  Prince  rules  over  an  almost  entirely  Lutheran 
population.  In  Austria,  according  to  the  census  of 
1850,  the  whole  population  of  the  empire  amounted  to 
36,398,620,  and,  as  to  its  religious  character,  stood  as 
follows  :  25,509,626  Roman  Catholics,  3,505,686  United 
Greeks,  2,751,846  Schismatic  Greeks,  1,869,546  Re 
formed  (mostly  Magyars,)  1,213,897  Lutherans,  46,278 
Unitarians  or  Socinians,  455  Separatists,  853,304  Jews. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Germany,  as  every 
where  else,  is  one  in  its  visible  organization,  although 
its  intercourse  with  the  Roman  head  was,  and  is,  in  part, 
still  subjected  to  various  restrictions  by  the  territorial 
governments,  especially  in  Austria  before  the  Concordat 
of  1855.  Its  actual  membership,  however,  is  fully  as 
heterogeneous  as  that  of  Protestantism.  It  includes, 
perhaps,  less  skepticism  and  infidelity,  but  far  more 
ignorance  and  superstition. 

The  Protestant  Church  in  Germany,  owing  to  its  close 
connection  with,  and  subordination  to,  the  state,  is  cut 
up  into  as  many  sections  as  there  are  separate  kingdoms, 
grand  duchies,  duchies,  principalities,  and  free  cities. 
Each  little  government  has  its  own  ecclesiastical  organi 
zation,  with  its  separate  polity,  worship,  and  adminis 
tration,  perfectly  independent  of  the  others.  The 


THE  ESTABLISHED  CHURCHES.  131 

Church  Diet,  it  is  true,  is  a  very  large  and  imposing 
representation  of  the  evangelical  ministry  and  laity  of 
Germany  ;  but  it  has  no  official  and  legislative  char 
acter,  and  the  confederation  of  all  the  German  Protest 
ant  establishments,  which  it  contemplated  originally, 
was  never  realized.  Territorially,  then,  there  are  actu 
ally  no  less  than  thirty-eight  Protestant  churches  within 
the  limits  of  the  German  Confederation.  So  in  Switzer 
land,  each  canton  has  its  independent  Reformed  Church, 
without  any  official  connection  whatever  with  that  of  the 
neighboring  canton. 

But  this  is,  after  all,  merely  a  geographical  and  polit 
ical  boundary  line,  such  as  keeps,  for  instance,  the  Epis 
copal  communion  of  Scotland  apart  from  that  of  the 
Church  of  England,  or  the  various  denominations  in 
Canada  from  the  corresponding  denominations  in  the 
United  States. 

Theologically,  there  are  only  three  branches  of  Ger 
man  Protestantism  as  connected  with  the  state,  the  Luth 
eran,  the  Reformed,  and  the  Evangelical  United  Church. 
Although  territorially  divided,  they  have  respectively  the 
same  confessions  of  faith,  a  similar  form  of  government, 
a  common  inheritance  of  hymns  and  liturgies,  and  keep 
up  a  free  exchange  of  theological  ideas,  teachers,  and 
students,  much  more  so  than  in  any  other  country.  A 
theological  professor,  for  instance,  may  be  called  from 
Wurtemberg,  or  Switzerland,  to  Prussia,  or  the  reverse, 
without  the  least  difficulty,  while  a  similar  exchange 
between  the  seminaries  of  different  denominations  in  our 
own  country,  although  they  may  stand  in  ecclesiastical 
correspondence,  hardly  ever  takes  place. 


132  THE  ESTABLISHED  CHURCHES. 

The  Protestantism  of  Germany,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  cities  on  the  confines  of  Switzerland,  and  Hol 
land,  was  originally  all  of  the  Lutheran  type ;  and  if  the 
high  Lutheran  party  had  not  attempted  to  annihilate 
the  milder  and  more  liberal  Melanthonian  school,  Cal 
vinism  would  probably  never  have  taken  deep  root  in 
German  soil.  But  the  violent  Lutheran  controversies 
in  the  second  part  of  the  sixteenth,  and  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  resulted  in  the  transition  of 
a  large  portion  of  the  Melanthonians  to  the  Reformed 
Confession. 

This  was  the  case  in  the  Palatinate,  Zweibrucken, 
Nassau,  Hesse,  Witgenstein,  Solmes,  Wied,  Hanau,  on 
the  lower  Rhine,  Jiilich-Cleve-Berg,  Westphalia,  Lippe, 
East-Friesland,  Anhalt,  Dessau,  and  Brandenburg.  The 
electors  of  the  Palatinate,  and  of  Brandenburg,  (subse 
quently  the  royal  house  of  Prussia,)  became  the  princi 
pal  protectors  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany, 
which,  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  re 
ceived  considerable  accession  from  the  Huguenot  refu 
gees  of  France. 

In  1817,  at  the  third  centenary  celebration  of  the 
Reformation,  the  king  of  Prussia,  Frederick  William 
III.,  united  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed  churches  in 
his  kingdom  under  one  government  and  worship,  and  gave 
them  the  name  of  the  Evangelical  Church.  This  exam 
ple  was  followed  by  most  of  the  countries  where  the  two 
denominations  were  represented,  viz  :  Nassau,  (1818,) 
Bavaria  on  the  Rhine,  (1819,)  Baden,  (1821,)  Hesse- 
Cassel  and  Hesse-Darmstadt,  (1822,)  Saxony-Weimar 
and  Hildburghausen,  (1826,)  and  Wiirtemberg,  (1827). 


THE   ESTABLISHED  CHURCHES.  133 

But  Bavaria  proper,  Austria,  and  the  kingdoms  of  Sax 
ony,  and  Hanover  never  introduced  the  union. 

This  amalgamation  of  the  two  sister  churches  of  the 
Reformation  has  been,  and  is  still,  a  source  of  infinite 
trouble  and  controversy,  of  which  we  shall  speak  more 
fully  in  a  separate  chapter.  The  real  object  of  the  move 
ment  has  not  yet  been  attained.  For  instead  of  making 
one  out  of  two,  it  has  resulted,  so  far,  in  the  addition  of 
a  third  church. 

Of  these  three  branches  of  German  Protestantism,  the 
Evangelical  or  United  Church,  is  the  strongest ;  but 
symbolical  and  exclusive  Lutheranism  is  at  present 
making  considerable  progress,  especially  in  Bavaria,  the 
eastern  provinces  of  Prussia,  Mecklenburg,  and  Hano 
ver,  and  this  will  rouse  the  Reformed  communion  to  re 
newed  zeal  and  united  effort. 


12 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE   DISSENTING    SECTS. 

Religious  Liberty — General  Condition  of  the  Dissenters — Three  Classes  of 
gects — The  Moravians — The  OldLutherans — TheMennonites — The  Bap 
tists —  The  Methodists  —  The  Swedenborgians —  The  Irvingites  —  The 
Hoffmannites— The  Socinians— The  Friends  of  Light— The  German  Ca 
tholics — The  Mormons. 

RELIGIOUS  liberty,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  in 
cludes  three  elements,  liberty  of  conscience,  liberty  of 
association  and  public  worship,  and  liberty  of  prose- 
lytism.  The  first  exists  in  Germany  to  the  fullest,  the 
second  to  a  limited  extent,  the  third  is  prohibited  by 
law,  although  it  cannot,  of  course,  be  prevented  alto 
gether.  But  while  dissent  is  restricted  in  its  practical 
operation,  the  liberty  of  religious  conviction  and  theolo 
gical  teaching  is  carried  to  an  excess  within  the  bosom 
of  the  established  churches,  so  that  they  embrace,  in 
fact,  as  already  remarked,  the  most  heterogeneous  mate 
rial,  from  the  stiffest  orthodoxy  to  the  lowest  rational 
ism,  that  would  not  even  be  tolerated  in  any  of  our 
more  respectable  Unitarian  congregations.  This  is  just 
the  reverse  of  the  normal  and  natural  order  of  things. 
Instead  of  true  liberty  in  connection  with  discipline 
and  order,  as  we  have  it  in  America,  these  state 
churches  of  Europe  present  us  compulsion  with  confu- 


THE  DISSENTING  SECTS.  135 

sion  and  contradiction.  If  the  existing  religious  and  the 
ological  differences  were  freely  permitted  to  assume  a 
separate  organized  form,  they  would  relieve  the  estab 
lishment  of  so  many  contradictory  and  discontented 
elements.  Then  each  body  could  exercise  discipline, 
and  be  in  fact  what  it  professes  to  be  in  name.  It  is 
perfectly  vain  and  preposterous  to  think  of  ruling  amoral 
and  spiritual  constitution  like  the  church  as  you  would 
a  police  or  an  army,  especially  in  a  nation,  which  in 
every  kind  of  intellectual  life  and  culture,  occupies  such 
a  high,  free  and  independent  position  as  the  German. 

The  dissenting  bodies  are  not  near  as  large  and  influ 
ential  in  Germany,  as  in  England.  This  is  owing  part 
ly  to  the  want  of  full  liberty  outside  of  the  establish 
ments,  and  the  excess  of  liberty  within  them,  to  which 
we  have  just  alluded ;  partly  to  the  fact  that  the  reflec 
tive  and  contemplative  mind  of  the  German  has  less 
disposition  to  embody  religious  and  theological  differ 
ences  in  an  outward  form  and  organization,  than  the 
more  practical  Englishman.  Still  the  number  of  Dis 
senters  is  increasing  of  late,  and  receives  encourage 
ment  from  the  growing  influence  of  English  and  Ameri 
can  institutions  and  sects.  They  receive,  of  course,  no 
support  from  the  state,  and  have  to  sustain  their  opera 
tions  by  the  voluntary  principle  and  assistance  from 
abroad.  New  sects  are  subjected  to  a  great  many  vex 
ations  and  annoyances,  amounting  at  times  to  real  per 
secution,  especially  in  those  states  where  Romanism 
prevails,  and  also  in  some  Lutheran  countries,  as  Meck 
lenburg,  until  they  are  invested  with  corporate  rights. 

The  German  sects  may  be  divided  into  three  classes, 


136  THE  DISSENTING  SECTS. 

the  evangelical,  the  mystic,  and  the  rationalistic.  To 
the  first  belong  the  Moravians,  the  Old  Lutherans,  the 
Mennonites,  the  modern  Baptists,  and  the  Methodists ; 
to  the  second  the  Swedenborgians,  and  the  Irvingites ; 
to  the  third  the  Socinians,  the  Lightfriends,  and  the 
German  Catholics.  The  Rationalists  generally  are  not 
a  sect,  but  a  theological  school  and  party  in  the  Estab 
lished  Churches,  which  was  once  stronger  than  the 
orthodox  party,  but  is  now  rapidly  diminishing. 

1.  The  Moravians,  or  Herrnhuters,  whose  founder, 
Count  Zinzendorf,  must  be  ranked  among  the  greatest 
names  in  church  history,  are  of  native  German  growth, 
and  a  small,  but  most  lovely  and  thoroughly  evangelical 
denomination.  They  agree  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  and  although  they  form  a  sepa 
rate  organization,  they  are  remarkably  free  from  secta 
rian  pride,  bigotry  and  exclusiveness.  Faith  in  the 
atoning  death  of  Christ,  and  love  to  him  and  all  his  fol 
lowers  of  whatever  name,  are  the  fundamental  articles 
of  their  Christianity.  Their  worship  is  of  the  liturgical 
order,  and  their  government  a  peculiar  combination  of 
Episcopacy,  and  Synodical  Presbyterianism.  They  live 
in  separate  peaceful  communities,  (Herrnhut,  Barnby, 
Niesky,  Gnadau,  Konigsfelden,  Neuwied,  &c.,)  which 
have  exerted,  and  still  exert  a  happy  influence  upon  the 
surrounding  country,  and  were  the  salt  of  the  national 
churches  in  the  period  of  the  great  apostacy.  Although 
their  former  zeal  has  considerably  abated,  they  still 
keep  up  their  extensive  missionary  operations  in  hea 
then  lands,  their  boarding-schools  and  other  useful  in 
stitutions,  which  secure  to  them  such  an  honorable  place 
in  the  history  of  evangelical  Protestantism. 


THE  DISSENTING  SECTS.  137 

The  great  divine,  Schleiermacher,  received  his  early 
training  among  the  Moravians,  and  learned  there  the 
love  of  the  Saviour,  which  accompanied  him  through  the 
labyrinth  of  skepticism,  and  gave  him  comfort  and  peace 
in  the  hour  of  death. 

2.  The  Old  Lutherans  are  seceders  from  the  Evan 
gelical  church  of  Prussia,  and  took  their  rise  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  Union  as  introduced  in  1817,  which  they 
regard  as  a  sacrifice  of  the  truth  and  a  union  between 
Christ  and  Belial.  They  adhere  to  all  the  tenets  of  the 
Lutheran  symbols  with  scrupulous  tenacity,  and  look 
upon  the  Reformed  church  as  essentially  heretical  and 
rationalistic.  But  their  hatred  against  the  Union  is  still 
more  intense.  Their  leaders  in  the  opposition  to  the 
state  church  were  Dr.  Scheibel,  formerly  professor  of 
theology  in  Breslau,  who  died  at  Nuremberg  in  1843 ; 
Dr.  Huschke,  professor  of  law  in  the  same  university, 
and  Dr.  Guericke,  of  Halle.  Their  strength  lies  mainly 
in  the  provinces  of  Silesia,  Saxony  and  Pomerania. 
They  were  at  first  fined,  imprisoned  and  annoyed  in 
various  ways  under  Frederick  William  III.  Their  per 
secution  is  the  darkest  and  most  disgraceful  page  in  the 
history  of  the  Prussian  Union.  But  it  would  be  unjust 
to  make  this  prince  responsible  for  all  the  brutalities  of 
his  soldiers  and  police-officers.  It  must  be  admitted 
also,  that  the  seceders  often  provoked  severe  measures 
by  the  fanatical  violence  of  their  attacks  upon  the  es 
tablished  church. 

Several  of  their  leading  ministers,  as  Ehrenstrom  and 
Grabau,  emigrated  with  their  people  to  the  United 
States.  The  former  ran  into  the  wildest  excesses,  and 

12* 


138  THE  DISSENTING  SECTS. 

perished  at  last  in  the  gold  mines  of  California.  The 
latter  still  presides  like  a  pope  over  an  extremely 
bigoted,  though  zealous  and  well-drilled,  Lutheran  con 
gregation  in  Buffalo.  Still  others  identified  themselves 
with  the  more  moderate  Old  Lutheran  Synod  of  Mis 
souri  and  Adjacent  States. 

With  the  accession  of  the  present  King  of  Prussia, 
all  persecution  against  these  seceders  from  the  Union 
ceased,  and  by  a  decree  of  July  23,  1845,  they  were 
formally  recognized  as  a  dissenting  sect,  with  full  liberty 
of  worship.  Their  membership  amounts  to  from  20  to 
30,000  souls.  Their  largest  congregations  are  in  Bres- 
lau  and  in  Berlin. 

But  the  Old  Lutheran  secession  has  been  quite  over 
shadowed  and  almost  forgotten,  since  confessional  Lu- 
theranism  raised  its  head  within  the  bosom  of  the  evan 
gelical  church  of  Prussia  itself.  The  followers  of  this 
movement  are  called  New  Lutherans,  in  distinction  from 
their  more  ultraistic,  but  more  consistent  predecessors. 
They  differ  very  little  in  doctrine  from  the  Old  Luthe 
rans,  but  they  still  adhere  to  the  union  with  the  state, 
they  wish  to  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  the  establishment, 
and  aim  to  Lutheranize  it  as  much  as  they  possibly  can. 
(In  the  United  States,  on  the  contrary,  the  term  New 
Lutheranism  is  identical  with  what  is  also  called  Ameri 
can  Lutheranism,  in  distinction  from  genuine,  strict, 
symbolical  Lutheranism.) 

3.  The  Mennonites,  so  called  from  Menno  Simonis,  a 
Romish  priest  of  Friesland,  who  joined  the  Anabaptists 
in  1536,  and  led  them  from  their  fanatical  extravagances 
into  the  state  of  an  orderly  religious  community,  num- 


THE  DISSENTING  S*ECTS.  139 

ber  about  14,000  in  Prussia,  and  live  principally  in  the 
regions  of  the  lower  Rhine,  without  exerting  any  influ 
ence  upon  the  general  course  of  religion.  In  Holland, 
where  they  are  more  numerous,  they  have  become  Ar- 
minian. 

4.  The  .Baptists,  who  excite  considerable  attention  in 
Germany  at  the  present  time,  are  not  the  descendants 
of  those   wild  fanatics  of  the  sixteenth   century,  who 
preached  and  practised  anarchical  doctrines,  and  were 
so  vigorously  opposed  by  Luther  and  all  the  Reformers, 
but  of  quite  recent  date,  and  we  may  say  of  English  and 
American  origin.     The  first  congregation  was  formed 
in  Hamburg  in  1834,  by  Mr.   Oncken,   an  American 
Baptist.     Assisted  by  men  and  means  from  the  United 
States,  they  have  since  made  some  progress  in  Berlin, 
Elberfeld,  and  in   Wiirtemberg,  but  almost  exclusively 
amongst  the  lower  classes  of  society.     They  attack  not 
only  the  institution  of  infant  baptism,  but  also  the  mix 
ture  of  the  church  with  the  world,  and  insist  upon  the 
necessity  of  discipline,  which  attracts  many  serious  per 
sons  to  them.    They  complain  a  gpeat  deal  of  persecution, 
especially  in  Mecklenburg,  and  sent  a  delegation  recent 
ly  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  expressed  his  surprise  at 
their  representations,  and  declared  himself  decidedly  in 
favor  of  full  religious  toleration.  • 

5.  A  few  years  ago  (1850)  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  the  United  States,  encouraged  by  the  rapid 
success  of  their  missionary  operations  among  the  Ger 
man  population  in  this  country,  sent  Dr.  Jacoby  and 
a  few   other   German    missionaries   to   the   fatherland, 
in  order  to  convert  it  to  American  Methodist  Christi- 


140  THE  DISSENTING  SECTS. 

anity.  They  have  already  built  a  church  in  Bremen, 
where  they  have  a  good  opportunity  to  direct  a  part  of 
the  German  emigration  into  the  channel  of  their  church, 
before  they  reach  their  new  home.  From  this  centre 
of  operations  they  expect  to  extend  the  net  of  their 
labors  gradually,  wherever  they  can  find  a  safe  foothold. 
They  also  publish  a  religious  newspaper,  and  Dr.  Jacoby 
wrote  a  Handbook  of  Methodism  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Germans.  The  Albright  Brethren,  a  German  Metho 
dist  sect  of  this  country,  have  imitated  the  example  of 
their  stronger  brethren,  and  sent  a  missionary  to  Wiir- 
temberg,  who  reports  favorably  of  his  success. 

Public  opinion  in  Germany  is  very  much  divided  as 
regards  the  degree  of  toleration  which  should  be  allowed 
to  such  foreign  emissaries.  I  am  confident,  however, 
that,  in  Prussia,  the  Methodists  will  not  meet  with  any 
serious  obstacle,  if  they  carefully  abstain,  as  they  ought 
to  do,  from  all  improper  interference  with  the  rights  and 
duties  of  the  established  churches.  The  religious  desti 
tution  is  so  great  in  the  larger  cities  as  Berlin,  Ham 
burg,  Bremen  and  Frankfort,  that  they  will  find  plenty 
of  room  for  missionary  work,  for  which  the  Methodist 
system  is  peculiarly  adapted. 

We  proceed  now  to  the  mystic  sects. 

6.  Swedenborgianism  exists  in  Germany  more  as  an 
opinion  than  as  a  sect.  Dr.  Tafel,  a  respectable  scho 
lar  and  librarian  at  Tubingen  in  Wurtemberg,  translated 
and  published  the  numerous  writings  of  Emmanuel  Swe- 
denborg,  but  without  much  success.  For  some  time  a 
talented  and  self-denying  clergyman  of  the  Evangelical 
Church  in  that  kingdom,  Gustavus  Werner,  a  former 


THE  DISSENTING  SECTS.  141 

classmate  of  the  infidel  Dr.  Strauss,  labored  as  a  tra 
velling  evangelist  for  the  propagation  of  the  peculiar 
opinions  of  this  remarkable  system,  opposing,  although 
with  great  caution,  the  Protestant  doctrines  on  the  trin 
ity,  the  atonement,  original  sin,  and  justification  by 
faith,  urging  to  works  of  charity,  as  the  root  of  faith, 
and  pointing  to  a  Johannean  Church  of  the  future, 
where  Jesus-Jehovah  would  restore  the  new  Jerusalem 
and  the  reign  of  love.  His  disinterested  zeal,  his  inge 
nious  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  and  his 
practical  benevolence  at  first  attracted  to  him  crowds  of 
admirers ;  but  the  excitement  has  passed  away,  and  he 
is  not  likely  to  accomplish  much  in  the  end.  His  eccle 
siastical  superiors,  after  tolerating  him  for  many  years, 
have  now  forbidden  him  the  use  of  the  public  churches, 
since  he  declined  to  sign  the  Augsburg  Confession. 
The  whole  number  of  Swedenborgians  in  Germany 
hardly  reaches  two  hundred. 

7.  The  Irvingites,  between  1840  and  1850,  sent  some 
of  their  ablest  men  from  England  to  Germany,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  making  a  few  important  conversions.  The 
principal  one  is  that  of  Dr.  Henry  Thiersch,  formerly 
professor  of  theology  at  Marburg,  and  decidedly  one  of 
the  most  learned  and  most  pious  divines  of  the  younger 
generation,  (he  was  born  in  1819,)  who  might  now  exert 
a  powerful  influence  for  good  in  one  of  the  first  academ 
ical  chairs,  had  he  remained  in  the  church  of  his  fathers. 
Still  his  works  on  Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  on  the 
history  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  and  on  Christian  family 
life,  have  an  independent  value,  derived  from  his  Chris 
tianity  and  solid  research,  and  not  from  the  peculiarities 


142  THE  DISSENTING  SECTS. 

of  his  new  connection.  As  a  writer  he  stands  between 
Irvingism  and  the  Evangelical  Church,  as  Tertullian 
stood  between  the  Montanist  sect  and  the  Catholic 
Church  of  the  second  century.  With  all  his  abilities 
and  zeal,  Thiersch  has  not  been  able  to  make  many  con 
verts. 

The  Irvingites  have  only  a  few  congregations  on  Ger 
man  soil.  The  most  important  is  that  in  Berlin,  which 
includes  some  influential  members ;  e.  g.  Mr.  Wagner, 
the  editor  of  the  famous  "  l&euz-zeitung,"  the  chief 
organ  of  the  high-state  and  high-church  party  in  Prus 
sia.  The  excitement  about  the  new  apostles,  prophets, 
and  evangelists  reached  its  height  during  the  commo 
tions  of  1848,  but  has  since  greatly  diminished. 

8.  In  the  year  1854  a  new  sect,  of  a  mystic  and 
apocalyptic  character,  arose  among  the  Pietists  in  Wur- 
temberg,  which  has  as  yet  no  distinctive  name.  Their 
leader  is  Dr.  Hoffmann,  of  Ludwigsburg,  son  of  the 
founder  of  the  pietistic  colony  of  Kornthal,  and  bro 
ther  to  the  distinguished  court-preacher  of  Berlin. 
He  is  a  gentleman  of  much  talent,  learning  and  piety, 
and  was  elected,  in  1848,  a  member  of  the  Parlia 
ment  of  Frankfort  in  opposition  to  his  rival,  the  no 
torious  Dr.  Strauss.  But  he  always  was  eccentric  in 
his  opinions,  and  more  recently  he  fell  out  entirely  with 
the  state  of  things  in  Europe.  He  regards  the  church 
in  its  present  mixture  with  the  world,  as  the  modern 
Babylon  which  is  hopelessly  hastening  to  destruction, 
dimly  foreshadowed  by  the  revolutions  of  1848,  and 
directs  his  eyes  to  the  holy  land,  where  the  true  chil 
dren  of  God  must  collect  to  prepare  the  way  for  Christ's 


THE  DISSENTING  SECTS.  143 

second  coming.  This  he  calls  the  Sammlung  des  Volkes 
Crottes.  His  friends  made  preparation  for  an  emigra 
tion  to  Palestine.  They  actually  applied  to  the  Sultan 
to  make  them  a  present  of  that  country,  but  he  has  not 
yet  seen  fit  to  part  with  it.  The  Eastern  war  excited 
great  expectations  in  them,  which  have  not,  however, 
been  realized  thus  far. 

All  these  sects  base  themselves  more  or  less  on  the 
Word  of  God,  and  are  animated  by  Christian  piety. 
Very  different,  and  of  all  least  worthy  of  protection,  are 
the  rationalistic,  which  we  must  notice  in  conclusion. 

9.  The  iSocinianS)  or  original  Unitarians  of  the  six 
teenth  century,  still  maintain  a  number  of  congrega 
tions  with  a  semi-rationalistic  creed,  in  the  Austrian 
province  of  Siebenburgen,  or  Transylvania.    Their  days 
as  a  sect  are  long  since  past,  but  their  opinions  on  the 
divine  unity,  the  person  of  Christ,  the  atonement,  etc., 
found  their  way  extensively  into  the  Lutheran  establish 
ments,  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Geneva,  France,  Hol 
land,  the  Presbyterians  of  England,  and  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  of  America.     German  Rationalism  is  a  con 
sistent  development  of  Socinianism,   and  divests  it  of 
those  supernatural  elements  (the  necessity  of  a  divine 
revelation,  the  deification  of  Christ  after  the  resurrec 
tion,)  which  Laelius  Socinus  and  his  nephew,  Faustus, 
taught  in  strange  connection  with  naturalistic  principles. 

10.  The  Liglitfriends  (LicJitfreunde)  are  a  few  inde 
pendent  rationalistic  congregations  in  the  Saxon  pro 
vince  of  Prussia.     They  owe  their  origin  to  the  excite 
ment   between   1841    and    1848,    caused   by  Ulich   of 
Magdeburg,   a  preacher    of  considerable   popular   elo- 


144  THE  DISSENTING  SECTS. 

quence  and  managing  talent,  but  of  the  lowest  views  on 
Christianity.  They  became  for  a  while  the  depositories 
of  all  religious  and  political  discontent  and  opposition 
to  the  Prussian  government,  until  they  were  swept 
away  by  the  current  of  the  Revolution  of  1848.  One 
of  their  leaders,  Wislicenus,  of  Halle,  emigrated  to 
America.  It  is  deeply  humiliating,  that  a  superficial 
rationalism,  which  was  supposed  to  be  dead  and  buried, 
could  create  such  a  commotion  in  a  state  like  Prussia, 
and  on  the  classical  soil  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation. 
But  the  emptiest  wagons  often  make  the  greatest  noise. 

11.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  so-called  German 
Catholics,  (Deutscli-Katholikeri)  who  date  their  existence 
from  the  famous  protest  of  the  suspended  Romish  priest, 
John  Ronge,  against  the  superstitious  veneration  of  the 
seamless  coat  of  Christ  at  Treves,  in  1844.  Never  was 
a  man  more  overrated,  than  this  Ronge,  at  his  first  ap 
pearance.  He  was  glorified  as  a  second  Luther,  and  his 
letter  from  Laurahutte  was  hailed  as  the  trumpet  of  a 
new  reformation,  which  would  give  the  finishing  stroke 
to  Popery.  But  the  movement  which  spread  for  a  while 
with  great  rapidity  among  the  Catholics,  especially  in 
Silesia,  only  revealed  the  large  amount  of  rationalism 
and  infidelity  which  exists  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
under  the  mask  of  orthodoxy  and  pious  ceremonies. 

It  is  true,  some  priests  and  laymen  were  carried  awray 
by  a  pure  desire  after  reform,  and  wished  to  retain  the 
fundamental  articles  of  the  old  Catholic  creed.  They 
gathered  around  Czerski,  who,  however,  was  himself 
rather  weak  and  inconsistent ;  or  they  fell  in  subsequent 
ly  with  one  of  the  Evangelical  churches.  For  a  short 


THE  DISSENTING  SECTS.  145 

time,  two  scholars,  also  of  established  reputation,  Theiner 
and  Regenbrecht,  gave  in  their  adhesion.  But  the  main 
current  of  this  German  Catholicism,  or  New  Catholicism, 
was  purely  negative,  and  ran  more  and  more  into  shal 
low  humanitarianism  and  revolutionary  politics.  The 
revolution  of  1848  brought  complete  freedom  to  the 
new  sect,  even  in  Bavaria  and  Austria.  Ronge  was 
even  elected  to  the  parliament  of  Frankfort,  and  joined 
the  extreme  radical  party,  but  was  unable  to  command 
any  influence ;  ran  off  to  England  with  another  man's 
wife,  and  sank  into  his  native  obscurity.  His  congre-* 
gations,  after  the  triumph  of  order  over  revolution,  broke 
up  in  rapid  succession,  or  were  suppressed  by  the  go 
vernments,  which  was  a  very  unnecessary  and  impolitic 
measure  in  view  of  their  low  state  of  consumption.  In 
Vienna  they  quietly  returned  to  the  Roman  Church ;  in 
other  cities  they  joined  in  part  the  Protestant  Churches. 
The  short  history  of  this  inglorious  sect,  shows  the  utter 
inability  of  rationalism  to  build  up  a  religious  commu 
nity. 

12.  The  Mormons  have  not  been  able  yet  to  make 
any  converts  in  Germany,  while  in  England,  Denmark, 
Sweden  and  Norway,  they  met  with  considerable  suc 
cess.  But  the  singular  fortunes  and  persecutions,  the 
high  claims,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  this  American 
edition  of  Mohaniedanism,  and  the  perplexities  which  it 
will  probably  cause  yet  to  our  national  government,  ex 
cite  a  great  deal  of  interest  and  curiosity  amongst 
German  scholars,  indeed  much  more  than  it  actually 
deserves. 
13 


CHAPTER    XV. 


THE    SKEPTICAL    ERA    OF   GERMANY. 

The  great  Apostacy  to  nationalism  and  Infidelity— Its  various  Causes— The 
German  Classics  in  their  relation  to  Christianity— Gothe  and  Schiller- 
Witnesses  of  Truth  during  the  Skeptical  Era— Reinhard,  Storr,  Knapp— 
Klopstock,  Herder,  Ilanmnn— The  Romantic  School— Von  Mailer, 
Schelling,  Hegel— Claudius,  Stilling,  Lavater— The  Moravians  and  the 
Pietists. 

THERE  was  a  time  when  the  religious  condition  of 
Germany  seemed  to  warrant  the  opinion  so  widely  preva 
lent,  till  recently,  among  Christians  in  Great  Britain 
and'  the  United  States,  that  it  was  a  semi-heathen 
country,  abounding  in  pedantic  book  learning,  wild  spe 
culations,  unpractical  theories,  dreary  rationalism  and 
godless  infidelity.  The  same  land  which  produced  the 
faith  of  the  Reformation,  and  rendered  all  glory  to 
Christ,  exalting  his  grace  far  over  all  human  works,  and 
his  word  above  all  human  traditions,  gave  rise  also  to 
the  most  subtle  and  dangerous  forms  of  unbelief  and 
Anti-Christianity.  Other  nations  have  likewise  fallen 
into  the  iron  embrace  of  skepticism,  especially  the 
French,  who,  like  the  Pantheon  of  Paris,  are  moving 
backward  and  forward  from  the  worship  of  Popery  to 
the  worship  of  Voltaire,  and  seem  to  be  unable  to  find  a 
sound  medium  position  between  despotism  and  licen 
tiousness.  But  in  no  country  has  infidelity  clothed 


THE  SKEPTICAL  ERA  OF  GERMANY.  147 

itself  in  such  an  array  of  learning,  assumed  such  a  se 
rious  aspect,  spread  more  generally  among  the  pro 
fessional  and  higher  classes,  and  led  to  more  disastrous 
results  among  the  people,  than  on  the  native  soil  of 
Protestantism.  But  the  greater  the  conflict,  the  greater 
also  the  victory.  God  overrules  the  wrath  of  man  for 
his  praise.  "  Truth,  like  a  torch,  the  more  it's  shook, 
it  shines." 

Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again, 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  her's  ; 

But  error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 
And  dies  amid  her  worshippers. 

The  great  apostacy  of  Germany  from  the  gospel,  com 
menced  about  a  hundred  years  ago.  English  deism ; 
French  materialism,  Voltaireism  and  Rousseauism ;  the 
reign  and  influence  of  the  highly  gifted,  but  thoroughly 
infidel  Frederick  IL,  of  Prussia;  the  shallow  popular 
philosophy  of  Wolf;  the  historical  skepticism  of  Semler; 
and  the  French  Revolution,  were  the  principal  causes 
that  combined  to  undermine  and  overthrow  the  old 
orthodoxy,  which  was  too  stiff,  pedantic  and  weak  to 
resist  the  strong  current  of  the  age. 

The  Pietists  and  Moravians,  it  is  true,  adhered  to  the 
ancient  faith  and  preserved  it  for  better  times,  but  they 
were  small  in  number,  and  confined  themselves  almost 
entirely  to  a  practical,  subjective  Christianity,  without 
taking  an  active  part  in  the  intellectual  war  and  revolu 
tion  of  ideas  which  was  then  going  on. 

The  second  part  of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  was,  indeed,  in  many  respects,  a  great 


148  THE  SKEPTICAL  ERA  OF  GERMANY. 

advance  on  the  literary  semi-barbarism  of  the  preceding 
age,  and  forms  the  classical  period  of  German  literature 
and  art.  Only  think  of  the  immortal  creations  of  Kant, 
Fichte,  Schelling,  Hegel,  in  philosophy ;  of  Klopstock, 
Winckelmann,  Lessing,  Herder,  "Wieland,  Jean  Paul, 
Gothe,  Schiller,  in  poetry  and  prose;  of  Haydn,  Mozart. 
Beethoven,  in  music !  But  in  theology  and  religion, 
that  period,  although  a  necessary  transition  from  a  life 
less,  contracted  orthodoxy  to  a  deeper,  broader,  and 
more  scientific  conception  of  Christianity,  was  the  most 
dreary  and  chilly  in  the  history  of  Protestantism.  Many 
of  the  ablest  writers,  who  exerted  an  incalculable  influ 
ence  upon  the  rising  generation,  and  will  forever  figure 
among  the  first  German  classics,  were  unfortunately 
either  altogether  indifferent,  or  decidedly  •  hostile  to 
Christianity. 

Gothe,  for  instance,  undoubtedly  the  greatest  poet 
since  Shakspcarc,  and  the  most  universal  and  the  most 
cultivated  of  all  poets,  was  a  refined  heathen,  without 
even  a  desire  after  salvation,  which  characterized  the 
noblest  minds  of  Greece  and  Rome,  but  perfectly  con 
tented  with  himself  and  the  world  of  nature.  His  theo 
retical  knowledge  of  Christianity,  as  displayed  in  the 
wonderful  tragedy  of  Faust,  and  in  the  confessions  of  a 
beautiful  soul,  inserted  in  Wilhelm  Mcister,  as  well 
as  his  former  intimacy  with  the  pious  Stilling  and  Lava- 
ter,  makes  his  case  only  the  worse.  He  studiously 
avoided  that  indirect  and  suggestive  teaching  of  virtue 
and  goodness,  which  is  the  highest  prerogative  of  art ; 
and  the  religious  tolerance  in  which  he  entrenched  him 
self  at  last,  was  in  fact  nothing  but  cold  indifference. 


THE  SKEPTICAL  ERA  OF  GERMANY.  149 

His  groat  friend  and  rival,  Schiller,  "was  a  pure-mind 
ed  and  noble-hearted  genius,  abounding  in  elevated 
moral  sentiment,  and  always  longing  after  something 
higher  and  better  than  earth  can  give ;  but  his  religious 
views  did  not  rise  above  the  Pelagian  rationalism  of 
Kant,  and  so  great  was  his  ignorance  of  the  real  nature 
and  infinite  value  of  Christianity,  that  he  deplored,  in  a 
mistaken  interest  for  poetry,  the  downfall  of  the  gods  of 
Greece,  and  entertained  the  absurd  idea,  that  the  thea 
tre  might  take  the  place  of  the  church.  To  his  excuse 
it  must  be  said  that  the  sermons  in  hundreds  of  churches 
in  his  days  had  no  more  religion,  and  far  less  spirit  and 
interest,  than  theatrical  performances.  No  wonder  that 
they  were  forsaken  more  and  more,  and  that  such  men 
as  Stolberg,  Frederick  Schlegel,  Werner  and  Noval?^, 
sought  and  found  at  least  some  sort  of  religion  in  the 
bosom  of  Romanism. 

Thus  a  deistic  and  Pelagian  rationalism,  which  emp 
tied  Christianity  of  all  its  supernatural  contents,  and 
retained  from  it  only  the  truths  of  natural  religion,  took 
in  a  short  time  possession  of  the  theological  faculties, 
the  pulpits,  the  consistories,  the  educational  institutions, 
and  the  thrones  of  princes.  It  altered  or  removed  the 
orthodox  text  books  from  colleges  and  schools,  and  even 
the  venerable  hymns  and  liturgies  which  breathed  the 
piety  of  the  pentecostal  days  of  Protestantism,  were 
exchanged  for  the  watery  and  prosy  productions  of  sen- 
timentalism.  From  the  higher  regions  of  society  and 
learning,  the  unbelieving  spirit  gradually  worked  its  way 
down  to  the  people.  All  the  revolutionary  forces,  which 
at  that  time  were  employed  in  France  for  the  destruc- 

13* 


150  THE  SKEPTICAL  ERA  OF  GERMANY. 

tion  of  the  political  order  of  things,  were  in  Germany 
directed  against  religion  and  the  church.  Had  the 
governments  of  that  country  not  confined  its  talents  so 
much  to  a  literary  existence,  and  given  them  more  room 
for  free  expansion  in  the  political  and  social  sphere,  it 
would  never  have  produced  so  many  rationalistic  and 
infidel  theologians  and  ministers.  Many  of  them  would 
have  chosen  much  more  congenial  fields  for  the  exercise 
of  their  zeal  for  destruction  and  innovation. 

Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Germany,  even  in 
its  darkest  period,  was  a  complete  desolation,  without 
green  spots  and  fresh  fountains  of  living  water.     There 
were    some    venerable    divines,    like    Reinhard,    Storr, 
Knapp,  who,  although   affected  to  some  extent  by  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  defended  the  necessity  of  a  supernatu 
ral  revelation  and  the  divine  authority  of  the  Bible  with 
great   learning   and   ability.     Klopstock,  the   German 
Milton,  although  inferior  to  the  sublime  genius  that  in 
spired  the  "Paradise  Lost,"  sung  the  glory  of  the  Mes 
siah.    In  Herder's  enchanting  paradise  of  all  the  flowers 
of  humanity,   Christianity  bloomed   after  all  with  the 
brightest  colors  and  sweetest  fragrance.     His  eccentric 
friend,  Hamann,  "the  Magus  of  the  North,"  uttered 
hieroglyphic  oracles,  which  sounded  like  prophecies  of  a 
new  creation.     Jacobi  maintained,  in  the  name  of  phil 
osophy,  the  insufficiency  of  reason  and  the  necessity  of 
faith.     The  romantic  school  of  Schlegel,  Tieck,  Novalis, 
revived  a  taste  for  the  poetry  of  religion,  and  chastised 
with  withering  irony  the  conceited  folly  of  a  Nicolai. 
John  von  Mliller,  the  German  Tacitus,  found  at  last  in 
Jesus  Christ  the  centre  of  the  history  of  the  world,  and 


THE  SKEPTICAL  ERA  IN  GERMANY.  151 

the  only  key  to  the  solution  of  its  mysteries.  Schelling 
and  Hegel  dug  out  a  deeper  channel  of  speculation, 
which  was  for  remote,  indeed,  from  the  simplicity  of  the 
gospel,  but  promised  at  least  to  show  the  beautiful  har 
mony  of  the  highest  truths  of  philosophy  with  the  lead 
ing  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  to  dethrone  the 
rationalistic  common  sense  from  its  usurped  dominion. 
Claudius,  Stilling,  and  Lavater,  preserved  a  childlike 
piety  in  an  age  of  prevailing  skepticism,  and  proved, 
in  their  persons  and  writings,  a  blessing  to  thousands. 
The  Pietists  and  Moravians  kept  the  lamp  of  faith  burn 
ing  in  dark  places.  And  finally  the  common  people,  in 
spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  blind  leaders  to  deprive 
them  of  their  dearest  treasure,  retained  a  certain  tradi 
tional  piety,  nourished  by  the  German  Bible,  the  cate 
chisms,  hymns,  and  devotional  works  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries. 

Thus,  there  was  a  sufficient  amount  of  salt  left  to  keep 
the  body  from  spiritual  decay  and  corruption.  The  fact 
is,  that  in  the  very  time  of  the  deepest  national  humilia 
tion  of  Germany  under  the  yoke  of  the  Corsican  con 
queror,  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers  for  a  successful 
emancipation  and  regeneration  of  Germany  were  fast 
ripening,  especially  in  Prussia,  which  had  sunk  lowest, 
to  rise  highest  among  the  German  states. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  EVANGELICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  PIETY. 

The  War  of  National  Independence— The  Centennial  Jubilee  of  the  Refor 
mation—The  Theses  of  Harms— The  Evangelical  Union  of  Prussia- 
Influence  of  Schleiermachcr  and  his  Theology— The  School  of  Schleier- 
macher  and  Neander,  and  other  Evangelical  Divines— The  Reformation 
of  the  Pulpit— The  Restoration  of  ancient  Hymns  and  Liturgies— The  re 
turn  of  Philosophy  and  other  Sciences  to  the  Spirit  of  Christianity. 

DR.  KAPFF,  of  Stuttgart,  one  of  the  best  men  living, 
opens  his  Report  on  the  religious  condition  of  Germany, 
which  he  prepared  for  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance,  held  at  Paris  in  1855,  with  the  following  re 
mark :  "If  Germany  some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago 
resembled  the  early  dawn  of  morning,  where  the  sun 
shone  only  on  the  highest  tops  of  isolated  mountains,  it 
is  now  approaching  the  middle  of  the  day,  but  a  day 
obscured  by  many  a  dark  cloud ;  infected  by  poisonous 
vapors  from  the  deep,  and  threatened  by  heavy  thunder 
storms.  Yet  towards  evening  there  shall  be  light ;  fresh 
waters  shall  flow  from  Jerusalem;  the  Lord  will  rule 
King  over  all  the  lands,  and  all  the  nations  shall  serve 
him  with  one  heart." 

The  great  revival  of  evangelical  Christianity  in  Ger 
many  is  generally  dated  from  the  national  struggles  for 
independence  against  the  usurpation  of  Napoleon.  They 


EVANGELICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  PIETY.  153 

wore,  however,  themselves  the  result  of  an  internal 
movement  already  at  hand,  and  in  turn  gave  it  a  new, 
powerful  impulse.  The  memorable  events  of  1813  kin 
dled  an  extraordinary  patriotic  enthusiasm,  and  a  noble, 
though  vague,  desire  for  an  entire  political,  moral  and 
religious  regeneration  of  the  Fatherland.  It  was  after 
the  battle  of  Leipzic  that  the  Protestant  king  of  Prus 
sia,  the  Koman  Catholic  emperor  of  Austria,  and  the 
Greek  Catholic  czar  of  Russia  formed  the  Holy  Alli 
ance,  by  which  they  took  God  to  witness  that  they  would 
henceforth  only  reign  for  the  happiness  of  their  subjects 
and  the  triumph  of  the  Christian  religion.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  manner  in  which  they  kept  this 
solemn  VOWT,  whatever  be  their  subsequent  guilt  in  mak 
ing  this  alliance  subservient  to  the  interests  of  despo 
tism,  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  to  doubt  their 
sincerity  and  pious  emotion  at  the  time  they  formed  it. 

A  few  years  afterwards,  (1817,)  followed  the  enthusias 
tic  celebration  of  the  third  centennial  jubilee  of  the  Re 
formation,  and  although  it  displayed  more  admiration  for 
Luther  as  a  national  hero  and  German  patriot,  than  a 
proper  appreciation  of  him  as  a  man  of  faith  and  reli 
gious  reformer,  yet  it  directed  the  interest  and  research 
of  the  age  to  the  great  movement  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury,  and  elicited  a  series  of  works  which  made  its  story 
as  familiar  as  household  words. 

In  connection  with  it  must  be  mentioned  the  ninety- 
five  theses  of  Harms,  who  assailed  with  the  faith  of 
Luther  the  wide  spread  rationalism,  as  an  abuse  and 
caricature  of  true  Protestantism. 

Still   more   important  was   the   introduction    of  the 


154  THE  REVIVAL  OF 

Evangelical  Union  in  Prussia,  in  1817,  which  was  fol 
lowed  by  a  similar  movement  in  other  states. 

In  the  meantime  a  deeper  and  more  spiritual  philoso 
phy  and  theology  had  already  arisen,  and  gathered  new 
strength  every  day  in  its  struggle  against  rationalism. 

Here  the  immortal  name  of  Schleicrmacher  shines 
pre-eminent,  and  marks  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of 
German  Protestantism.  It  is  impossible  here  to  enter 
into  a  detailed  account  of  this  extraordinary  genius, 
whose  biography  will  be  at  the  same  time  a  history  of 
the  corresponding  period  of  Germany.  For  he  passed 
through  all  the  movements  of  his  age,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  national  rising  of  Germany,  the 
jubilee  of  the  Reformation,  the  union  of  the  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  confessions,  and  in  every  great  philosophical 
and  religious  question  which  agitated  his  country  till  his 
pious  death  in  1834.  The  sublime  speculation  of  Plato, 
the  calm  pantheism  of  Spinoza,  the  keen  criticism  of 
Kant,  the  subjective  idealism  of  Fichte,  the  romantic 
poetry  of  Tieck  and  Schlegel,  the  bold  neology  of  Sender, 
the  sentimental  piety  of  Zinzendorf,  the  stern  supralap- 
sarianism  of  Calvin,  were  all  mastered  by  him  and 
worked  up  into  a  most  original  system,  which  is  certainly 
far  from  being  orthodox,  either  in  the  Lutheran  or  Re 
formed  sense,  but  a  wonderful  creation  of  philosophical 
and  theological  science,  a  complete  annihilation  of  the 
shallow  rationalism  which  preceded  it,  and  a  near 
approach  to  a  truly  evangelical  theology,  in  which  the 
living  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  God-man  and  Saviour, 
is  the  soul  and  centre,  and  the  Pauline  doctrines  of  sin 
and  grace  the  two  opposite  poles. 


EVANGELICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  PIETY.  155 

It  seems  to  be  incredible  that  a  man  who  removed 
from  the  New  Testament  the  pedestal  of  the  Old,  who 
numbered  the  miraculous  conception,  the  resurrection 
and  ascension  of  Christ  and  his  return  to  judgment, 
among  the  things  comparatively  indifferent  to  saving 
faith,  who  denied  the  existence  of  the  devil,  and  taught 
the  final  salvation  of  all  creatures,  should  have  been  a 
blessing  to  the  church  and  lead  the  rising  generation  to 
the  fountains  of  life.  And  yet  such  is  undoubtedly  the 
fact  and  his  lasting  merit,  which  will  hardly  be  denied 
by  the  most  orthodox  divines  in  Germany.  But  Schleier- 
macher  can  only  be  understood  and  properly  appreciated 
in  close  connection  with  the  two  ages  between  which  he 
stood,  as  the  last  in  the  generation  of  skeptics,  and  the 
first  in  the  succession  of  believers. 

Schleiermacher's  best  disciples,  animated  by  his  free 
spirit,  and  for  this  very  reason  not  dependent  on  his 
letter,  made  a  still  nearer  approach  to  the  Christianity 
of  the  Church  and  the  Bible,  and  a  series  of  learned  and 
pious  divines  arose,  whose  influence  goes  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  Germany. 

Neander  reproduced  the  history  of  Christ's  kingdom, 
as  a  living  witness  of  the  divine  and  leaven-like  power 
of  the  gospel,  as  a  source  of  instruction  and  edification 
for  all  ages.  Tholuck  and  Olshausen  laid  open  with 
reverent  minds  the  treasures  of  the  New  Testament,  as 
the  word  of  God,  after  it  had  so  long  been  misinterpreted 
by  profane  hands,  as  the  word  of  fallible  men.  Hengs- 
tenberg,  who,  however,  never  belonged  to  the  school  of 
Schleiermacher,  defended  the  divine  inspiration  and 
authority  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  had  been  so 


156  THE  REVIVAL  OF 

rudely  assailed  by  the  Rationalists,  and  founded  the 
Evangelical  Church  Gazette,  as  a  powerful  weapon 
against  all  forms  of  infidelity.  Twesten  and  Nitzsch 
improved  the  dogmatic  system  of  Schleiermacher  by 
bringing  it  more  in  harmony  with  the  Evangelical  and 
Scriptural  system  of  truth.  Ullmann,  LUckc,  Bleek, 
Sack,  Muller,  Schmid,  Rothe,  Dorner,  Langc,  and  a 
number  of  other  distinguished  theological  writers  labored 
for  the  same  cause  of  building  up  on  a  stronger  founda 
tion  what  neology  had  destroyed. 

The  result  was.  that  in  the  course  of  thirty  or  forty 
years  the  chairs  of  nearly  all  the  German  universities 
were  filled  with  men  imbued  more  or  less  with  a  believing 
spirit,  and  laboring  successfully  in  rearing  up  a  pious 
and  zealous  generation  of  ministers,  who  will  scatter 
the  seed  among  the  people,  and  thus,  with  the  help  of 
God,  build  up  once  more  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  in  the 
land  of  the  Reformation. 

The  glad  tidings  of  salvation  began  to  resound  again 
from  pulpits,  where  for  years  before  Pelagian  moralists 
had  fed  the  congregations  with  husks.  Powerful  preachers 
arose  like  Louis  and  William  Ilofacker,  and  the  Krum- 
machers,  father,  uncle,  and  son,  who  unfolded  the  plan  of 
salvation  and  led  the  thirsty  souls  to  fountains  of  living 
water.  A  new  taste  and  zeal  was  awakened  for  the 
sacred  hymns  and  prayers  of  a  better  age,  which  began 
to  be  restored  to  their  proper  position  in  the  sanctuary 
in  place  of  the  insipid  productions  of  a  prosy  and  chilly 
rationalism,  while  Spitta,  Knapp  and  Bahrdt,  tuned 
their  harp  for  new  songs  of  Zion. 

Nor  was  this  reform  confined  to  theology  and  religion 


EVANGELICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  PIETY.  157 

proper.  The  human  sciences,  too,  which,  superficially 
tasted,  had  led  away  from  God,  began  to  return,  in  some 
of  their  profoundest  representatives,  to  the  source  of  all 
truth  and  wisdom.  The  aged  Schelling  slowly  matured, 
in  mysterious  silence,  his  new  system  of  a  positive  philo 
sophy  that  should  unfold  the  sense  of,  and  defend  the 
truth  of  revealed  religion.  Baader  worked  out,  in  apho 
ristic  flashes  of  genius,  a  peculiar  theosophy,  and  Emil 
von  Schaden  followed  both  in  the  path  which  promised 
to  show  the  sacred  harmony  of  natural  and  revealed 
truth.  Fischer,  and  Fichte  the  younger,  labored  suc 
cessfully  in  the  service  of  Christian  theism  in  opposition 
to  Hegelian  pantheism.  History  was  now  treated  by 
Leo,  Ranke  and  others  in  a  much  better  spirit,  and  from 
a  far  higher  stand-point,  as  a  theatre  for  the  unfolding  of 
the  plans  of  divine  wisdom  and  mercy.  The  prevailing 
tendency  of  the  general  literature  of  Germany  for  the 
last  thirty  or  forty  years,  differs  essentially  from  the 
negative  and  destructive  literature  of  the  preceding 
age,  and  looks,  in  various  forms  and  degrees,  towards  a 
reconciliation  of  science  with  faith,  of  reason  with  reve 
lation,  of  modern  culture  with  old  and  ever  young  Chris 
tianity,  the  unfailing  source  of  truth  and  life. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  was  an 
easy  triumph.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  and  is  still  a 
most  powerful  conflict  between  Christ  and  Anti- Christ, 
faith  and  infidelity,  theism  and  pantheism.  This  very 
conflict,  which  is  not  yet  ended,  makes  the  last  period 
of  German  theology  one  of  the  most  instructive  and  in 
teresting  chapters  in  the  internal  history  of  the  Church. 
14 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


THE     CONFLICT     OF     C  II  EISTI ANIT  Y     WITH     THE 
LATEST     FOE MS     OF     INFIDELITY. 

Ecaction  of  Infidelity— Pantheism  and  Transcendentalism— The  Tubingen 
School  of  Baur,  Strauss,  etc.— The  Hallcschc  Jahrbucher,  Feuerbach 
and  Vogt— The  Apologetic  Literature  in  Defence  of  the  Gospel  History 
and  Primitive  Christianity— Young  Germany,  Heine,  Borne,  etc.— The 
Friends  of  Light— The  German  Catholics— The  Ecvolution  of  1848— Ec 
action,  and  increased  Efforts  for  Eeligious  and  Social  Ecform— The 
Evangelical  Church-Diet— The  Gustavus-Adolphus  Society— The  cause 
of  Foreign  Missions — Future  Prospects. 

"IN  GEEMANY,"  says  the  late  Archdeacon  Hare, 
"the  mighty  intellectual  war  of  Christendom  has  been 
waged  for  the  last  half  century,  and  is  now  going  on." 
Neology  had  entered  so  deeply  into  the  various  ramifica 
tions  of  society,  and  especially  the  higher  literary  cir 
cles,  the  seats  of  controlling  power  and  influence  in 
Germany,  that  it  required  years  of  the  most  persevering 
labor  to  turn  the  current.  In  the  same  proportion  in 
which  orthodoxy  and  true  religion  revived,  the  enemy, 
disturbed  in  his  possession,  rose  in  self-defence,  and 
invented  new  modes  of  attack. 

The  old  deistic  rationalism  of  common  sense,  repre 
sented  by  such  men  as  Paulus,  of  Heidelberg,  Rohr,  of 
Weimar,  Wegscheider,  of  Halle,  and  Bretschneider,  of 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

it  l*J  _fV  1    » 

Gotha,  gave  way  to  a  more  refined,  and  dangerous  pan 
theism  and  transcendentalism,  arrayed  in  the  armory  of 
the  Hegelian  philosophy.  Strauss,  the  representfrtirrr 
of  the  left  wing  of  this  system,  as  applied  to  theology, 
resolved,  in  his  notorious  "Life  of  Jesus,"  (1835,)  the 
entire  gospel  history  into  mythological  fables,  and  re 
commended  the  worship  of  human  genius,  as  the  only 
real  divinity !  His  more  cautious  friends,  Baur,  Zeller, 
Schwegler,  (the  so-called  Tubingen  school,)  applied  this 
destructive  work  of  criticism  to  the  whole  apostolic 
and  post-apostolic  literature,  and  arrived  at  the  conclu 
sion,  that  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  with  the 
exception  of  five,  were  the  fabrications  of  the  second 
century,  and  that  the  Christianity  of  the  Church,  far 
from  being  the  product  of  Christ  himself,  resulted  as  a 
compromise  from  the  protracted  conflict  of  the  early 
heresies,  in  which  Gnosticism  plays  the  most  prominent 
part.  The  "Hallesche  Jahrbucher"  taught  this  pan 
theistic  philosophy  and  infidel  theology  without  any  re 
serve,  denying  the  existence  of  a  personal  God,  of  the 
personal  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  deifying  poor  sinful 
man.  Feuerbach  employed  all  his  ingenuity  to  prove 
that  theology  was  only  a  reflection  of  anthropology,  and 
all  religion  a  dream  of  the  human  fancy.  The  latest 
form  of  this  pseudo-philosophy  and  pseudo-theology  is 
the  crude  materialism  taught  by  Karl  Vogt  in  the  abused 
name  of  natural  science. 

It  seems  to  be  impossible  to  carry  the  opposition  to 
Christianity  further  than  this  infidel  wing  of  the  Hegelian 
school  has  done,  without  running  into  direct  blasphemy, 
or  madness. 


1GO  THE  CONFLICT  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Yet  after  all,  the  productions  of  these  writers,  espe 
cially  the  Tubingen  critics,  to  whom  must  he  accorded 
the  credit  of  a  rare  amount  of  learning,  power  of  com 
bination,  and  a  certain  degree  of  earnestness,  have  done 
perhaps  more  good  than  harm,  by  bringing  matters  to  a 
crisis,  by  drawing  a  sharper  line  of  distinction  between 
the  opposite  parties,  and  by  eliciting  an  extensive  apolo 
getic  literature  relating  to  the  history  of  primitive  Chris 
tianity,  and  the  fundamental  articles  of  faith.     The  work 
of  Strauss,  on  the  Life   of  Jesus,  alone  called  forth  a 
host  of  replies,  direct  and  indirect,  from  Nearider,  Tho- 
luck,  Ebrard,  Lange,  Hoffmann,  Liicke,  etc.,  some  of 
which  are  of  permanent  value,  and  mark  a  great  pro 
gress    in   the    scientific    understanding    of   the    gospel 
history. 

While  this  contest  was  going  on  in  the  theological 
and  philosophical  world,  a  new  school  of  light  litera 
ture  arose  after  the  Revolution  of  1830,  under  the  name 
of  the  Young  Germany,  headed  by  Heine,  Borne, 
Gutzkow,  Mundt,  and  Wienbarg.  It  united  German 
pantheism,  or  rather  atheism,  with  French  wit  and 
frivolity,  and  proclaimed,  in  poems,  novels  and  literary 
criticisms,  the  downfall,  not  only  of  the  Christian  reli 
gion,  but  also  of  the  Christian  morality,  and  the  triumph 
of  the  infamous  doctrine  of  "the  emancipation  of  the 
flesh."  It  exchanged  the  Bible  doctrine  that  man  was 
created  in  the  image  of  God,  for  the  blasphemous  notion 
that  God  is  no  more  than  the  image  of  man,  and  from 
the  dizzy  height  of  self-deification  it  sank  down  into  the 
abyss  of  brutish  licentiousness.  It  is  characteristic 
that  the  principal  preachers  of  this  infernal  gospel  were 


WITH  THE  LATEST  FORMS  OF  INFIDELITY.          161 

Jews,  who  crucified  the  Messiah  afresh,  the  very  oppo 
site  of  those  pious  Israelites  of  our  age,  like  Neander 
and  Stahl,  who  embraced  him  as  the  only  Saviour  of 
fallen  man. 

Fortunately,  these  champions  of  the  flesh,  with  all 
their  brilliant  talents,  found  an  insurmountable  barrier 
in  the  moral  seriousness  of  the  German  people.  They 
were  thrown  out  of  decent  society,  and  found  a  more 
congenial  home  in  the  atmosphere  of  Paris.  Some  of 
them  have  since  turned  their  attention  to  more  worthy 
pursuits.  Even  Henry  Heine,  the  most  gifted  of  them, 
after  long  keeping  swine,  like  the  prodigal  son,  began 
to  see  his  folly,  on  his  hopeless  sick-bed  in  Paris,  and 
thought  of  a  return  to  his  forsaken  God.  His  memoirs, 
published  in  1854,  a  year  before  his  death,  contain  some 
very  remarkable  confessions  on  the  bankruptcy  of  his 
former  views,  and  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  Bible. 

Although  the  ordinary  rationalism  was  long  con 
sidered  dead  and  buried,  even  by  the  Hegelian  pan 
theists,  it  suddenly  rose  again  in  the  movement  of  the 
so-called  Friends  of  Light,  headed  by  Uhlich,  of  Magde 
burg,  and  in  "German  Catholicism,"  under  the  leader 
ship  of  Ronge.  The  former  originated  in  the  bosom  of 
Protestantism,  the  latter  seceded  from  Romanism.  Both 
were  purely  negative,  and  ran  more  and  more  into  a 
shallow  humanitarianism  and  revolutionary  politics. — 
Yet  they  made  an  immense  commotion  amongst  the 
middle  classes  in  Northern  Germany,  between  the  years 
1844  and  1848,  and  filled  all  the  newspapers  with  their 
hollow  noise. 

In  the  midst  of  these  intellectual  conflicts,  the  sudden 
14* 


162  THE  CONFLICT   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

downfall  of  Louis  Philippe's  government  in  February, 
1848,  gave  the  signal  for  the  outbreak  of  the  revolu 
tionary  forces  in  Germany,  which  had  been  gathering 
ever  since  the  reactionary  measures  of  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  and  were   nourished  by  the   rationalistic  and 
infidel  literature   of  the  age.     This   revolution,  which 
brought  even  Austria  and  Prussia  to  the  brink  of  dis 
memberment,  gave  a  fair  chance  to  all  the  radical  spirits, 
discontented  with  Church  and  State,  to  show  whether 
they  were  able  to  construct  a  new  and  better  order  of 
things.     But  rationalism  and  pantheism  exposed  their 
utter  incompetcncy  for  any  positive  work  of  social  re 
form,  and  covered  themselves  with  disgrace.     Even  the 
National   Assembly   of  Frankfort,   which   embraced   a 
large  amount  of  the  professorial  wisdom  of  Germany, 
and  raised  for  a  while  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of 
a  great  national  regeneration,  refused  to  open  its  sessions 
with  prayer,  and  decreed  a  separation  of  the  State  and 
School  from  the  Church,  not  in  the  American  sense  of 
a  peaceful  co-existence   of  the   spiritual  and  temporal 
powers,  but  in  the  infidel  sense  of  an  emancipation  of 
the  German  people  from  Christianity.     No  wonder  that 
it  broke  up  at  last  in  confusion  and  shame. 

The  follies,  abuses  and  distractions  of  the  radical  and 
infidel  parties,  caused  the  failure  of  these  revolutions, 
and  called  forth  a  successful  reaction.  Princes,  states 
men,  lawyers,  and  the  higher  classes  generally,  who  had 
been  very  indifferent,  or  even  hostile  to  the  Church, 
before  1848,  learned  wisdom  from  sad  experience,  and, 
either  from  honest  conviction  or  from  political  motives, 
favored  religion  as  the  only  safeguard  of  public  order, 


WITH  THE  LATEST  FORMS  OF  INFIDELITY.  163 

and  cure  for  the  diseases  of  society,  which  had  come 
fearfully  to  light  in  the  recent  commotions.  The  con 
servative  party  in  nearly  all  the  German  States,  espe 
cially  in  Prussia,  raised  the  standard  of  Christianity, 
of  which  many  had  been  ashamed  a  few  years  before. 

The  places  of  high  influence  and  trust  were  filled 
with  pious  men.  Rationalism  disappeared  from  nearly 
all  the  theological  chairs  in  the  universities,  and  is 
fast  disappearing  from  the  teachers'  seminaries  and  the 
management  of  common  schools.  The  students  and 
candidates  for  the  Gospel  ministry  know  that  much  more 
is  required  from  them  now  than  theoretical  learning,  if 
they  are  at  all  to  succeed  in  their  high  calling. 

The  interest  in  philosophy  and  speculation  which  had 
occupied  the  German  mind  for  so  many  years,  almost  to 
the  exclusion  of  practical  pursuits,  declined  so  rapidly, 
as  to  give  room  even  for  complaint  of  the  opposite 
extreme.  The  rising  generation  of  scholars  are  mostly 
believers  in  Christianity.  Practical  questions  now  en 
gross  the  attention.  Societies  for  the  better  obser 
vance  of  Sunday,  introduction  of  family  worship,  the 
promotion  of  temperance,  the  improvement  of  prison 
discipline,  the  care  of  dismissed  convicts,  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations,  useful  libraries  for  the  people, 
benevolent  institutions  for  the  laboring  classes,  colliers, 
sailors,  emigrants,  the  poor  and  the  orphans,  establish 
ments  for  deaconesses,  and  all  those  efforts  and  means 
for  the  religious  and  moral  reform  of  society,  which  are 
comprehended  under  the  name  of  Inner  Missions,  are 
multiplying  in  every  direction.  All  these  operations 
have  a  common  centre  in  the  German  Church  Diet, 


164  THE  CONFLICT  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

which  was  formed  in  the  revolutionary  year  of  1848 
over  the  graves  of  Luther  and  Melanthon,  and  has 
since  travelled  as  a  powerful  evangelist  over  the  leading 
cities  of  Germany,  gathering  to  its  meetings  the  most 
distinguished  divines,  ministers  and  laymen,  and  kind 
ling  everywhere  the  sacred  fire  of  evangelical  faith  and 
charity.  In  1853,  this  Diet,  consisting  of  two  thousand 
ministers  and  laymen  from  all  parts  of  Germany, 
solemnly  professed  anew  the  Augsburg  Confession,  in 
the  city  of  Berlin,  and  the  royal  heir  of  the  infidel 
Frederick  the  Great,  the  protector  of  Voltaire,  attended 
its  session.  This  fact  alone  shows  a  gigantic  progress 
of  evangelical  truth,  and  gives  effectually  the  lie  to  the 
assertion  of  the  eloquent  champion  of  French  Roman 
ism,  the  Count  Montalembert,  who  only  a  year  before 
had  declared :  "  Go  now,  and  count  the  number  of  Pro 
testants  in  the  country  of  Luther  who  would  be  willing 
to  sign  the  Confession  of  Augsburg :  they  could  all  be 
contained  in  one  small  borough." 

Another  encouraging  sign  of  the  times  is  the  enlarg 
ing  activity  and  usefulness  of  the  Gustavus-Adolphus 
Society,  which,  though  not  so  decidedly  orthodox  and 
evangelical  in  its  profession  and  composition  as  the 
Church  Diet,  does  the  good  work  of  the  merciful  Sama 
ritan,  gives  material  aid  to  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
feeble  evangelical  denominations  in  Roman  Catholic 
countries,  especially  in  Austria,  and  promotes  the  gene 
ral  interest  of  Protestantism.  Its  annual  contributions 
are  now  exceeding  the  sum  of  80,000  Prussian  dollars, 
and  the  last  anniversary,  held  at  Bremen,  (1856,)  was 
unusually  spirited. 


WITH  THE  LATEST  FORMS  OF  INFIDELITY.          165 

The  interest  in  foreign  missions  is  likewise  increasing 
every  year ;  and  many  of  the  most  devoted  evangelists 
in  East  India,  China,  and  Africa,  have  proceeded  from 
Basel,  Barmen,  and  other  missionary  institutions,  which 
are  now  regarded  with  growing  favor  by  the  people. 

These  are  some  of  the  facts  which  show  a  change  in 
the  religious  aspect  of  Germany,  brought  about  within 
the  last  ten  or  twenty  years.  In  some  cases  there  is 
danger  even  of  injuring  the  cause  of  sound  religion  by 
extreme  high  church  tendencies,  which  may  ultimately 
work  into  the  hands  of  Romanism,  and  by  identifying 
it  too  much  with  political  ultra-conservatism  and  reac- 
tionism,  which  might  in  the  end  provoke  a  new  convul 
sion  of  society  more  dangerous  than  the  one  of  1848. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannob  be  denied  that  there  is 
yet  an  immense  amount  of  infidelity  and  smothered 
hostility  to  all  authority  in  Church  and  State  amongst 
the  middle  and  the  laboring  classes,  only  waiting  for  a 
new  chance  of  outbreak.  Some  regions  have  been  so 
terribly  devastated  by  the  architects  of  ecclesiastical 
ruin,  that  it  will  require  many  years  of  the  most  self- 
denying  labor  to  re-build  the  walls  of  Zion. 

There  are  not  wanting  excellent  and  highly  intelligent 
men,  who  entertain  but  little  hope  for  the  ultimate  fate 
of  their  fatherland,  who  are  disposed  to  fear,  that  the 
recent  improvements  may  be  swept  away  sooner  or  later 
by  a  new  flood  of  Anti-Christianity  more  terrible  than 
any  which  has  gone  before,  until  the  coming  of  Christ 
will  bring  about,  in  a  supernatural  way,  a  true  and 
lasting  reformation  of  the  Church  and  of  society. 

Such  pious  pessimists,  however,  may  be  found  in  any 


1GG  THE  CONFLICT  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

country,  even  in  the  United  States,  which  seem  to  be 
emphatically  a  land  of  hope  and  promise.  We  are  no 
prophet,  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet,  and  would  ever  be 
mindful  of  the  truth,  that  man  proposes,  but  God  dis 
poses,  and  that  his  ways  are  past  finding  out.  But  a 
comparison  of  Germany  of  the  present  day,  with  the 
Germany  of  the  past  generation,  is  certainly  calculated 
to  fill  an  unprejudiced  lover  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
with  deep  gratitude  to  God  and  joyous  hopes  for  the 
future. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 


LUTHERANISM    AND    REFORM. 

General  Character  of  the  Difference  between  Lutheranism  and  Reform — 
Its  National  Basis — Relation  of  both  to  Romanism — Doctrinal  and  Theo 
logical  Difference  between  the  two  Churches — Difference  in  Constitution 
and  Discipline — Difference  in  Worship  and  Ceremonies — Difference  in 
Practical  Piety. 

LUTHERANISM  and  Reform  are  the  two  great  branches 
of  evangelical  Protestantism,  which  date  from  the  Re 
formation  itself,  and  to  which  all  other  denominational 
divisions  and  controversies  of  Protestantism  are  subor 
dinate.  They  may  be  compared  to  the  two  sections  of 
Catholicism,  the  Greek,  and  the  Roman,  although  the 
difference  in  our  case  is  much  more  freely  and  fully  de 
veloped. 

The  two  churches  of  the  Reformation  do  not  abso 
lutely  contradict  each  other,  but  admit  of  an  ultimate 
reconciliation.  They  agree  in  all  the  essential  articles 
of  faith,  and  even  some  of  their  most  prominent  differ 
ences  are  more  of  a  theological  and  scholastic,  than  of 
a  religious  and  practical  nature.  Hence  the  union — 
movements  which,  under  various  forms,  such  as  the  Prus 
sian  Union,  the  German  Church  Diet,  the  Evangelical 
Alliance,  occupy  so  large  a  space  in  the  modern  history 


168          LUTHERANISM  AND  REFORM. 

of  Protestantism,  especially  in  Germany.  But  they  re 
present,  on  the  other  hand,  two  distinct  ecclesiastical 
individualities,  or  types  of  Christianity.  The  difference 
is  by  no  means  confined,  as  some  suppose,  to  the  doc 
trine  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  divine  decrees.  On 
the  contrary,  it  runs  through  the  whole  system,  and  af 
fects  more  or  less  the  entire  theology,  organization,  wor 
ship,  and  practical  piety.  It  rests,  we  may  say,  on  a 
different  psychological  constitution,  and  national  basis, 
as  much  so  as  the  distinctive  peculiarities  of  the  Greek, 
and  the  Latin  Churches  may  be  traced  back  to  the  dif 
ference  between  the  ancient  Greek,  and  Roman  nation 
alities. 

Lutheranism  is  essentially  of  German  growth  and  in 
timately  identified  with  the  German  language  and  na 
tionality.  Hence  it  loses  more  or  less  its  original  fea 
tures  and  assimilates  itself  imperceptibly  to  the  Reform 
ed  Confession,  whenever  it  is  transplanted  by  emigration 
to  French,  English,  or  American  soil,  as  a  mere  glance 
at  the  Anglicized  portion  of  the  Lutheran  denomination 
in  the  United  States,  compared  with  the  foreign  German 
synods  of  Missouri  and  Buffalo,  sufficiently  shows.  The 
name  itself  is  significant.  The  Lutheran  church  is  not 
only  called  after  its  human  founder,  but  is  animated  and 
controlled  by  his  genius  and  influence.  The  Germans 
may  be  said — sit  venia  verbo  ! — to  worship  three  idols, 
Luther,  Frederick  the  Great,  (the  alte  Fritz,)  and  Gothe, 
the  first  for  his  religious,  the  second  for  his  military,  the 
third  for  his  poetical  genius.  Luther  is  the  most  truly 
German,  as  well  as  the  most  honest,  pure-minded  and 
noble-hearted  of  the  three,  and  worthy  of  all  honor  and 


LUTIIERANISM  AND  REFORM.  169 

praise  which  it  is  lawful  to  bestow  upon  a  mere  man  who 
after  all,  combined  with  extraordinary  virtues  and  ex 
cellences,  violent  passions  and  strange  inconsistencies. 
He  ^is  revered  by  German  Protestants   as  the  master 
spirit  of  the  Reformation,  as  a  Christian  Elijah,  as  the 
divinely  commissioned  prophet  and  apostle  of  Germany. 
The  almost  magic  influence  of  his  name  may  be  strik 
ingly  seen  in  the  fact,  that  even  those  numerous  Ameri 
can  Lutherans  who   disown  every  distinctive  doctrinal 
feature   of  Lutheranism,  and    are   pure  Zwinglians  or 
even  downright  rationalists  in  their  views  on  baptism 
and  the  eucharist,  still  cleave  tenaciously  to  this  tradi 
tional  veneration  of  the   name,  and  are  as  sectarian  in 
practise  as  the  strictest  old  Lutherans  who  revere  the 
Formula  Concordice,  as  the  perfection  of  theology.    But 
the  Lutheran  church  has  always  included  also  a  Melan- 
thonian   school  which  is  more  liberal,  moderate,  and  fa 
vorably  disposed  towards  a  union  or  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  Reformed  church.     In  the  seventeenth  century, 
it  was  almost  suppressed,  but  it  still  lived  in  Calixtus, 
acquired  new  strength  and  importance  in  the  pietistic 
movement  of  Spener  and  Francke,  and  has  now  the  as 
cendency  we  may  say  in  all  the  United  Churches. 

The  Reformed  Church,  on  the  other  hand,  is  far  more 
independent  of  a  particular  personality  and  nationality. 
The  number  of  its  founders  is  larger,  and  none  exerted 
such  a  commanding  and  absorbing  influence  upon  its 
genius,  as  Luther  upon  the  Lutheran  communion.  Zwin- 
gli,  (Ecolampadius,  Bullinger,  Farel,  Calvin,  Beza,  Ur- 
sinus,  Olevianus,  Cranmer,  Knox  contributed  their  share 
to  its  establishment  and  constitution,  but  none,  not  even 
15 


170  LUTHI-r.ANISM  AND  REFORM. 

Calvin,  could  or  would  impress  his  name  upon  it.  It 
took  its  rise,  it  is  true,  in  German  Switzerland,  and 
found  a  home  afterwards  in  the  Palatinate,  on  the  Lower 
Rhine,  in  Friesland,  Hesse,  Brandenburg  and  Prussia. 
But  it  developed  itself  with  more  marked  peculiarity  and 
on  a  larger  scale  in  the  French,  Dutch  and  English  nation 
alities.  To  get  a  proper  idea  of  the  power  and  extent  of 
the  Reformed  communion,  we  must  especially  keep  in 
view  the  national  Church,  and  the  dissenting  bodies  of 
England,  the  various  branches  of  Presbyterian  Scot 
land,  and  the  leading  evangelical  denominations  of 
America,  which  are  all  different  modifications  of  the 
Reformed  principle,  as  distinct  from  Romanism,  and 
Lutheranism.  In  Germany,  it  has  always  been  modified 
more  or  less  by  Lutheran,  or  rather  Melanthonian  influ 
ences,  both  to  its  injury,  and  to  its  advantage,  so  that 
it  presents  there  neither  that  strict  discipline,  congre 
gational  self-government  and  practical  energy  and  power, 
nor  the  rigorous  extremes  of  the  Calvinistic  bodies.  With 
all  her  defects,  the  German  Reformed  church  is  more 
elastic  and  pliable  than  her  sisters  of  other  nations,  and 
occupies,  so  to  speak,  a  central  position  between  Lu 
theranism  and  Calvinism,  affected  by  the  good  elements 
of  both,  and  capable  also  to  exert  a  modifying  influence 
in  turn  upon  both. 

If  we  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  dis 
tinctive  theological  and  ecclesiastical  features  of  the  two 
Confessions,  we  may  derive  them  in  great  part  from  the 
different  relation  they  sustain  to  mediaeval  Catholi 
cism  from  which  they  seceded,  and  consequently  also 
to  the  Romanism  of  the  present  day. 


LUTIIERANISM  AND  REFORM.  171 

The  Lutheran  church  generally  speaking,  is  more 
conservative  toward  the  past,  than  the  Reformed,  which, 
agreeably  to  its  name,  carries  the  principle  of  reform 
much  further,  in  some  of  its  sections,  Puritanism  espe 
cially,  to  the  extreme  of  Ultra-Protestantism.  The  for 
mer  retained  from  the  ancient  system  what  was  not  ex 
pressly  prohibited  by  the  Bible ;  the  latter  drew  a  shar 
per  line  of  demarcation  between  the  Word  of  God,  and 
the  traditions  of  men,  followed  more  strictly  and  exclu 
sively  the  directions  of  the  Scriptures,  and  aimed  at  a 
complete  renovation  of  the  life  of  the  church,  with  the 
view  to  conform  it  as  much  as  possible  to  the  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  apostolic  age,  regardless  of  the  in 
tervening  history  from  the  sixteenth  up  to  the  second 
century. 

In  this  respect,  however,  the  Church  of  England  oc 
cupies  a  peculiar  position.  She  adheres  still  more 
closely  to  the  Catholic  organization  than  Lutheranism, 
although  she  belongs  upon  the  whole  to  the  Reformed 
family,  and  shows  unmistakable  traces  of  the  impression 
which  Calvinism  not  only,  but  even  the  Puritan  Revolu 
tion  of  the  seventeenth  century  made  upon  it.  Angli 
canism  is  a  compromise  between  Catholicism  and  Pro 
testantism  held  together  by  the  royal  supremacy. 

Then  again,  the  opposition  of  the  two  Confessions  to 
Romanism  is  directed  against  different  aspects  of  it. 
The  one  attacked  mainly  the  Judaism,  the  other  the 
Paganism  in  the  Papacy.  "Away  with  legalism  and 
self-righteousness !"  was  the  war-cry  of  Luther.  "Away 
with  idolatry  and  moral  corruption!"  was  the  motto  of 
Zwingli,  Calvin  and  Knox. 


172  LUTIIERANISM  AND  REFORM. 

Let  us  now  specify  the  difference  in  tlie  various 
branches  of  ecclesiastical  and  religious  life. 

In  the  department  of  doctrine  and  theology,  the  closer 
affinity  of  Lutheranisni  to  Catholicism  shows  itself  es 
pecially  in  the  articles  on  the  church  and  the  sacraments, 
and  the  rule  of  faith  by  the  greater  weight  which  it  al 
lows  to  tradition.  Most  of  the  Lutheran  symbols  are 
silent  about  the  supreme  and  exclusive  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  which,  in  the  Reformed  creeds,  is  made  a  fun 
damental  principle.  The  central  dogma,  moreover,  of 
the  former,  is  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone, 
called  by  Luther,  the  "  articulus  stantis  et  cadentis 
ecclesice,"  while  the  latter  are  based  upon  the  more 
comprehensive  doctrine  of  the  absolute  sovereignty  and 
free  grace  of  God,  and  upon  the  solemn  sense  of  our 
perfect  dependence  on  him,  and  our  sacred  obligation  to 
serve  him  alone  in  a  holy  life  and  conversation.  The 
Lutheran  theology  has  throughout  a  more  idealistic  and 
speculative  tendency,  aims  to  harmonize  divine  and  hu 
man  truth,  revelation  and  reason,  knowledge  and  faith, 
and  when  deviating  from  the  sound  path,  runs  naturally 
into  mysticism,  transcendentalism  and  pantheism.  The 
Reformed  theology  is  more  realistic  and  practical, 
keeping  God  and  the  world,  Scripture  and  tradition, 
church  and  state  strictly  apart,  and  is  more  exposed  to 
the  opposite  danger  of  deism  and  a  sort  of  dualism. 
Hence  the  Lutheran  dogma  of  the  real  presence  in,  with 
and  under  the  material  elements,  of  the  ubiquity  of 
Christ's  body,  and  the  oral  manducation  of  it  by  the 
unworthy,  as  well  as  the  worthy  communicants ;  while 
the  Reformed  symbols  separate  carefully,  at  times  almost 


LUTHERANISM  AND  REFORM.          173 

abstractly  and  mechanically,  the  sacramental  sign  from 
the  sacramental  grace,  and  teach  only  a  spiritual,  though 
nevertheless  real  fruition  of  the  exalted  Saviour  through 
the  indispensable  medium  of  faith.  Hence  also  the  lean 
ing  of  the  Lutheran  christology  to  the  Eutychian  con 
fusion,  and  of  the  Reformed  to  the  Nestorian  separation 
of  the  two  natures  in  Christ's  person. 

Secondly,  as  to  government   and  discipline,  the  Re 
formed,  especially  the  Calvinistic  or  Presbyterian  com 
munions,  are  far  more  consistently  Protestant  than  the 
Lutheran  churches.     Luther  and  Melanthon  troubled 
themselves  very  little  about  this   question.     They  con 
fined  themselves  to  a  reformation  of  faith  and  theology, 
and  left  the  corresponding  changes  in  the  organization 
to  the  course  of  events.     They  permitted  the  temporal 
princes  to  assume  and  exercise  the  episcopal  supervision. 
Thus  the   Lutheran   establishments   became   most  inti 
mately  interwoven  with  the   state,  and  in  fact  entirely 
dependent  of  it,   and  are  generally  destitute   of  disci 
pline  within,  while  they  carefully  exclude  dissent  from 
without,  especially  in  Sweden,  where  no  other  religion  is 
tolerated  to  this  day.     The  congregations  remained  al 
most  as  passive  as  in  the   Roman  church.     They  have, 
in  Europe,  not  even  the  right  of  electing  their  pastor. 
They  are  exclusively  ruled  by  their  ministers,  as  these  are 
ruled  by  their  provincial   consistories,  always  presided 
over  by  a  layman,  the  provincial  consistories  by  a  cen 
tral  consistory,  or  Oberkirchenrath,  or  whatever  may  be 
its  name,  and  this  again  by  the  minister  of  worship  and 
public  instruction,  who  is  the  immediate  executive  organ 
of  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  crown. 

15* 


174  LUTHERANISM  AND  REFORM. 

The  Reformed,  on  the  contrary,  wherever  they  were 
not    crippled   in    their   legitimate    development,    made 
earnest  with  the  doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of 
believers,  reorganized  the  constitution  of  the  church  on 
a  scriptural  and  popular  basis,  introduced  the  office  of 
lay-elders  and  deacons,  together  with  a  strict  discipline, 
thus  creating  what  is  a  most  important  feature,  a  con 
gregational  and  synodical  self-government,  and  strove 
after  greater  independence,  and  at  last  entire  separation 
of  the  church  from  the  state.     While  Lutheranism  is 
monarchical,  and  extremely  conservative  in  politics,  the 
Reformed  church  became  the  fruitful  soil  of  civil  and 
religious   liberty,  on   a   constitutional,  monarchical,  or 
republican  basis,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  mere  glance  at 
Switzerland,  Holland,  England  and  the  United  States, 
which  are  the  freest  and  most  prosperous  governments 
in  the  world.     Romanism  may  be  called  the  church  of 
priests ;  Lutheranism  the  church  of  ministers  and  theo 
logians  ;   Calvinism  the  church  of  congregations  and  a 
free  people. 

Thirdly,  as  to  worship  and  religious  customs  and 
ceremonies,  Lutheranism,  like  the  Episcopal  church, 
adhered  more  closely  to  the  stated  liturgical  and  sa 
cramental  system  of  Catholicism;  removing,  however, 
the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  idolatry  of  saints,  and 
popularizing  the  services  by  transferring  them  into  the 
vernacular  language,  and  giving  to  the  sermon  the  cen 
tral  place.  It  draws  the  fine  arts  into  the  service  of 
religion,  and  has  produced  a  body  of  hymns  and  chorals 
which,  in  richness,  power  and  unction,  surpasses  the 
hymnology  of  all  other  churches  in  the  world. 


LUTHERANISM  AND  REFORM.  175 

The  Reformed  communion  is  much  poorer  in  this 
respect ;  it  confined  itself  for  a  long  time  to  the  use  of 
the  Psalms,  and  aimed  at  the  greatest  sobriety  and  sim 
plicity  of  worship,  which,  in  Presbyterianism  and  Puri 
tanism,  is  certainly  carried  to  excess.  Mrs.  Beecher 
Stowe,  though  herself  a  Puritan,  in  describing  the  won 
drous  beauties  of  nature  in  Switzerland,  makes  the  sig 
nificant  remark  :  "  One  thing  is  certain  ;  He  who  made 
the  world  is  no  utilitarian,  no  despiser  of  the  fine  arts, 
and  no  condernner  of  ornament,  and  those  religionists, 
who  seek  to  restrain  everything  within  the  limits  of  cold, 
bare  utility,  do  not  imitate  our  Father  in  heaven.  The 
instinct  to  adorn  and  beautify  is  from  him ;  it  likens  us 
to  him,  and  if  rightly  understood,  instead  of  being  a 
siren  to  beguile  our  hearts  away,  it  will  be  the  closest  of 
affiliating  bands."  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  however, 
that  even  the  Puritan  simplicity  has  its  peculiar  solem 
nity  and  charm  for  a  certain  class  of  minds,  and  pro 
ceeds  from  a  high  degree  of  intellectuality,  spirituality, 
and  independence  from  outward  helps  to  devotion.  To 
the  Reformed  churches,  especially  of  Great  Britain  and 
America,  belong  the  great  merit  also  of  having  pro 
moted  the  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  culti 
vated  the  sermon  and  the  gift  of  free  prayer  to  an  extent 
which  was  never  known  before,  or  even  now  in  any 
country  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 

Finally,  if  we  look  to  practical  piety,  it  seems  to  us 
as  clear  as  daylight,  that  the  Reformed  churches,  owing 
to  their  more  fully  developed  Protestantism  and  individ 
ualism,  include  a  much  greater  proportion  of  converted 
people,  or  personal  subjective  piety,  than  the  Lutheran, 


176  LUTIIERANISM  AND  REFORM. 

and  arc  unsurpassed  in  liberality,  missionary  zeal,  prac 
tical  energy  and  activity,  power  of  self-government  and 
vigor  of  discipline,  love  of  religious. and  civil  freedom, 
and  earnest,  faithful  devotion  to  the  service  of  Christ. 
We  need  only  point,  in  support  of  this  assertion,  to  the 
host  of  Reformed  martyrs  in  France,  Holland  and  Eng 
land,  to  the  nourishing  spiritual  life  in  the  Wupperthal, 
to  the  astounding  sacrifices  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scot 
land,  and  to  the  great  fact  of  the  self-sustaining  and 
self-governing  Christianity  of  America  with  its  restless 
activity,  to  the  British  and  American  Bible,  Tract,  and 
Missionary  societies,  and  to  the  progressive  march  of 
Reformed  Christendom  in  the  extreme  West  and  extreme 
East,  in  every  new  colony  and  every  heathen  land. 

But  on  the  other  hand  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  Lutheran  piety  has  also  its  peculiar  charm,  the 
charm  of  Mary,  who  "  sat  at  Jesus'  feet  and  heard  his 
word."  If  it  is  deficient  in  outward  activity  and  prac 
tical  zeal,  and  may  learn  much  in  this  respect  from  the 
Reformed  communion,  it  makes  up  for  it  by  a  rich  inward 
life.  It  excels  in  honesty,  kindness,  affection,  cheerful 
ness,  and  that  Q-emuthlichkeit,  for  which  other  nations 
have  not  even  a  name.  The  Lutheran  church  medi 
tated  over  the  deepest  mysteries  of  divine  grace,  and 
brought  to  light  many  treasures  of  knowledge  from  the 
mines  of  revelation.  She  can  point  to  an  unbroken  suc 
cession  of  learned  divines,  who  devoted  their  whole  life 
to  the  investigation  of  saving  truth.  She  numbers  her 
mystics  who  bathed  in  the  ocean  of  infinite  love.  She 
has  sung  the  most  fervent  hymns  to  the  Saviour,  and 
holds  sweet,  child-like  intercourse  with  the  heavenly 
Father. 


LUTHERANISM  AND  REFORM.  177 

We  sec,  then,  that  each  confession  has  its  peculiar 
mission,  virtues  and  merits,  and  however  deeply  we  may 
regret  the  split  which  divided  the  forces  of  the  Reforma 
tion,  and  exposed  it  to  the  attacks  and  ridicule  of  the 
enemy,  yet  in  view  of  a  history  of  three  hundred  years, 
we  must  say  that  the  evil  has  been  providentially  over 
ruled  for  good,  and  that  both  branches  of  evangelical 
Protestantism,  with  their  subdivisions,  have  accomplish 
ed  a  great  work  for  the  promotion  of  Christ's  kingdom 
on  earth. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


THE   EVANGELICAL    UNION. 

Unity,  an  essential  Attribute  and  Duty  of  the  Christian  Church— Early 
Attempts  to  unite  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Confessions  in  Germany — 
The  Marburg  Conference — The  Wittenberg  Concordia — Bucer  and  Me- 
lanthon — The  Lutheran  Confessionalism — Zwingli  and  Calvin — The 
Electors  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Prussian  Symbols — Indifferentism  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century— The  Revival  of  Faith  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 
— Catholic  Spirit — King  Frederick  William  III.  and  the  Prussian  Union 
of  1817 — Introduction  of  the  Union  in  other  German  States. 

BUT  now  the  question  arises,  shall  Lutheranism  and 
Reform  forever  continue  separate,  or  be  united  into  one 
family,  and  in  what  form  ?  Are  the  true  tendencies  of 
Protestantism  to  increased  division,  distraction,  and  ulti 
mate  dissolution,  or  to  consolidation,  peace  and  harmo 
ny  ?  If  the  latter  be  the  case,  then  it  seems  to  be  the 
duty  of  the  land  of  the  Reformation  which  gave  rise  to 
the  great  split,  to  take  the  lead  also  in  the  attempt  to 
reunite,  theologically  and  ecclesiastically,  the  scattered 
forces  of  evangelical  Protestantism,  and  thus  to  complete 
the  work  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

This  leads  us  to  speak  of  an  important  movement 
which  originated  in  Prussia  in  1817,  in  connection  with 
the  third  centennial  celebration  of  the  Reformation.  It 
certainly  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  German  Pro 
testantism,  and  will  result  in  some  good,  even  if  it  should 


THE  EVANGELICAL  UNION.  179 

fail  under  its  present  form.  In  order  to  understand  it 
properly,  we  must  trace  shortly  the  preparatory  steps 
which  looked  to  the  same  object. 

Unity  is  an  essential  attribute  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
as  much  so  as  holiness  and  catholicity ;  and  to  promote 
it  and  realize  it  more  and  more,  is  one  of  the  first  duties 
of  Christians.  The  Romish  church  confounds  unity  with 
uniformity,  and  maintains  it  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  free 
development  of  nationality  and  individuality.  Protes 
tantism,  on  the  other  hand,  promotes  freedom  and  vari 
ety  at  the  expense  of  unity  and  harmony.  The  Reform 
ers  themselves  originated  the  principal  divisions  which 
have  since  been  embodied  in  so  many  confessions  and 
denominations.  But  they  felt  at  the  time  that  it  was 
wrong  for  brethren  to  quarrel,  and  were  anxious  to  heal 
the  distractions  in  their  own  camp,  as  far  as  supreme 
regard  to  truth  and  conscience  would  permit. 

The  attempts  to  unite  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed 
branches  of  Protestantism  on  German  ground,  did  not 
originate  with  the  royal  house  of  Prussia,  but  are  almost 
as  old  as  the  division.  The  Union  has  as  many  testes 
veritatis  in  the  divided  churches  of  the  Reformation,  as 
the  Reformation  itself  in  the  Catholic  middle  ages.  It 
was  the  object  of  the  famous  Conference  held  at  Mar 
burg  in  1529,  where  the  leaders  of  the  German  and 
Swiss  Reformations  agreed  upon  fourteen  fundamental 
articles  of  faith,  but  parted  on  the  sole  question  of 
Christ's  real  presence  in  the  Eucharist. 

Martin  Bucer  labored  incessantly  for  the  union  of  the 
two  parties,  and  succeeded,  in  1586,  to  induce  Luther 
and  Melanthon  to  sign  a  compromise  with  the  Swiss, 


180  THE  EVANGELICAL  UNION. 

called  the  Wittenberg  Concordia,  which,  however,  con 
cealed  rather  than  reconciled  the  difference,  and  was 
therefore  but  of  short  duration. 

la  Poland  the  Bohemians,  Lutherans  and  Reformed 
actually  effected  at  least  a  temporary  Consensus  at  Sen- 
domir  in  1570. 

Melanthon,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  became  more 
and  more  favorable  to  a  union  with  the  Reformed,  and 
altered  even  the  Augsburg  Confession  in  1540,  with  the 
express  purpose  to  suit  it  to  them,  and  thus  to  make  it 
a  union  symbol  for  all  the  Evangelical  churches  of  Ger 
many  and  Switzerland. 

But  the  exclusive  Lutheran  party  gained  the  ascend 
ancy  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  and  during  the 
seventeenth  centuries.  Of  them  Hase  remarks  in  his 
Church  History,  (p.  527,  seventh  ed.) :  "  The  Reformed 
divines  were  always  favorable  to  a  fraternal  recognition ; 
whilst  the  Lutheran  divines  would  rather  hold  commu 
nion  with  the  Papists,  and  declared  the  hope  that  Cal- 
vinists  could  be  saved,  to  be  a  diabolical  invention." 

Still  the  Melanthonian  school  was  never  entirely  ex 
tinguished  in  the  Lutheran  body,  and  adhered  to  the 
conciliatory  spirit  of  the  master.  Calixtus,  Leibnitz, 
Spener,  Zinzendorf,  were  all  favorable  to  the  principle 
of  a  union  of  the  Christian  confessions,  and  exposed  them 
selves  for  this  reason  to  the  bitter  reproaches  of  the 
champions  of  the  scholastic  orthodoxy  and  sectarian 
bigotry  of  their  age. 

As  regards  the  Reformed,  they  were  always  willing  to 
recognize  the  Lutherans  as  brethren,  notwithstanding 
the  difference  of  opinion  on  some  articles  of  faith.  This 


THE  EVANGELICAL  UNION.  181 

appears  already  from  the  conduct  of  Zwingli  at  Marburg. 
Calvin,  while  at  Strasburg,  signed  even  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  acted  on  several  conferences  in  concert  with 
Melanthon,  kept  up  an  intimate  correspondence  with  him 
till  his  death,  and  was  anxious  to  promote  union  and  har 
mony  among  Protestants  as  far  as  it  could  be  done  with 
out  sacrifice  of  truth.  The  German  branch  of  the  Re 
formed  church  seemed  to  offer  less  difficulty  than  any 
other  to  a  union  with  the  Lutheran,  since,  from  its  origin, 
it  stood  in  the  closest  connection  with  the  Melanthonian 
school,  and  was  regarded  by  Frederick  the  Pious,  of  the 
Palatinate,  and  many  others,  as  its  legitimate  continua 
tion,  although  modified  to  a  considerable  extent  by  Cal- 
vinistic  influences. 

The  Electors  of  Brandenburg  especially,  since  the 
transition  of  John  Sigismund  from  the  Lutheran  to  the 
Reformed  confession,  (1614,)  cherished  from  political 
and  religious  motives  the  idea  of  a  union  of  the  contend 
ing  parties.  His  grandson,  Frederick  William,  surnamed 
the  Great  Elector,  was  married  to  a  Dutch  princess, 
Louise  Henrietta,  of  eminent  talents  and  piety,  and  re 
garded  it  as  the  mission  of  Prussia,  in  connection  with 
Reformed  Holland  and  Reformed  England,  to  strengthen 
and  protect  the  general  cause  of  Protestantism.  The 
Brandenburg-Prussian  symbols,  the  Confessio  Marchica, 
or  Sigismundi,  (of  the  year  1614,)  the  Colloquium  Lip- 
siacum  (1631,)  and  the  Declaratio  Thoruniensis  (1645) 
look  all  in  the  same  direction. 

But  owing  to  the  prevailing  polemical  spirit  and  dog 
matical  exclusiveness  of  the  seventeenth  century,  all 
attempts  to  realize  the  unity  of  evangelical  Protestantism 
16 


182  TIIE  EVANGELICAL  UNION. 

failed.  It  was  the  will  of  Providence  that  the  several 
confessions  should  first  fully  develop  their  distinctive 
peculiarities  and  fulfil  their  separate  mission  in  the  de 
partments  of  doctrine,  discipline  and  worship. 

The  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  buried  the 
controversy  between  Lutheranism  and  Reform,  and  even 
the  doctrinal  differences  between  Romanism  and  Pro 
testantism,  in  the  flood  of  indifferentism  and  infidelity 
which  overrun  the  Continent  of  Europe.  The  confes 
sional  war  was  absorbed  by  the  question,  whether  Chris 
tianity  itself  was  not  a  fable,  and  the  church  an  obsolete 
institution  of  the  dark  ages. 

The  reviving  faith  of  the  nineteenth  century  moved 
first  in  the  broad  channel  of  general  Christianity,  which 
precedes  the  particular  ecclesiastical  confessions.  Even 
pious  Catholics  (think  of  Bishop  Sailer,  the  princess 
Gallitzin  and  others)  moved  hand  in  hand  with  pious 
Protestants  (Hamann,  Claudius,  Lavater,  Stilling,  etc.,) 
against  the  common  foe  of  infidelity. 

In  this  general  Christian  faith,  and  in  harmony  with 
the  spirit  and  traditional  policy  of  several  of  his  royal 
arid  electoral  ancestors,  the  Reformed  king  of  Prussia, 
Frederick  William  III.,  after  the  emancipation  of  Ger 
many  from  the  French  yoke,  and  shortly  before  the 
celebration  of  the  third  centennial  jubilee  of  the  Refor 
mation,  issued  on  the  27th  of  September,  1817,  the 
memorable  declaration,  that  he  wished  to  unite  the  sepa 
rate  Lutheran  and  Reformed  confessions  in  his  domi 
nions  into  one  renewed  Evangelical  Christian  Church, 
and  would  set  an  example  in  his  own  congregation  at 
Potsdam,  by  joining  in  a  united  celebration  of  the  Lord's 


THE  EVANGELICAL  UNION.  ~18.°> 

Supper  on  the  approaching  festival  of  the  Reformation, 
hoping  that  the  example  may  be  generally  imitated  by 
his  subjects  in  the  same  spirit,  and  that  the  time  may 
soon  come  when  all  true  Christians  would  be  united  in 
one  faith,  love  and  hope,  as  one  flock  under  the  common 
Shepherd  of  souls.  The  execution  of  the  plan  was  com 
mended  to  the  provincial  consistories,  synods,  and  the 
pious  zeal  of  the  clergy. 

Bunsen,  who  calls  this  event  the  most  important  work 
of  Frederick  William's  reign,  not  only,  but  of  the  whole 
century,  tells  us,  (Signs  of  the  Times,  vol.  ii.  p.  178,) 
that  the  king  matured  the  idea  on  his  visit  to  England 
in  1814,  impressed  with  the  imposing,  national,  conser 
vative,  pious  and  independent  character  of  Anglican 
Protestantism,  and  that  he  made  the  first  arrangement 
for  a  union  and  a  new  liturgy  in  the  palace  of  St.  James. 

The  good  motives  of  the  king  are  universally  con 
ceded.  He  was  a  monarch  of  only  moderate  talents, 
and  somewhat  contracted  in  his  political  creed,  but  of 
sound  practical  sense,  honest  character,  righteous  dispo 
sition  and  sincere  piety,  which  had  been  much  benefited 
by  great  disasters  and  great  victories.  He  united  in  his 
reign  the  period  of  the  deepest  humiliation  of  Prussia 
with  the  period  of  her  national,  political,  and  religious 
regeneration,  and  died  (1840)  universally  esteemed  and 
beloved  by  his  subjects,  with  the  motto  of  his  life,  "My 
time  in  trouble,  my  hope  in  God,"  (Meine  Zeit  in  Unruhe, 
meine  Hoffnung  in  G-ott.} 

Nor  was  this  Union  by  any  means  an  arbitrary  mea 
sure  of  Frederick  William  III.  "It  fell" — to  use  the 
words  of  a  distinguished  historian — "into  his  hands  as 


184  THE  EVANGELICAL  UNION. 

the  ripe  fruit  of  his  age."  The  Synod  of  Berlin,  led  by 
the  greatest  modern  theological  genius,  Schleiermacher, 
who  was  far  too  independent  to  follow  a  movement 
because  it  proceeded  from  a  court,  and  who  was  even 
suspected  for  his  liberal  views  on  politics,  and  nearly 
the  whole  clergy  and  laity  of  Prussia,  readily  fell  in 
with  the  royal  decree  as  a  timely  work,  from  which  the 
greatest  benefit  might  be  expected  to  the  cause  of  evan 
gelical  Protestantism.  It  was  then  generally  believed 
and  hoped  that  the  time  of  the  unhappy  religious  dissen 
sions  had  forever  passed,  that  the  two  sister  Churches  of 
the  Reformation  were  agreed  in  every  essential  article  of 
Christianity,  in  opposition  to  Romanism,  and  infidelity, 
and  that  their  differences  were  too  insignificant  to  pre 
vent  a  hearty  communion  and  co-operation  in  the  work 
of  the  common  Master. 

Not  only  in  Prussia,  but  in  most  of  the  German 
States  where  the  two  Confessions  were  sufficiently  repre 
sented  to  justify  a  similar  movement,  the  example  of 
the  king  was  followed.  Thus  the  Union  was  introduced 
either  by  resolution  of  Synods,  or  by  a  general  vote,  in 
Nassau,  1817,  the  Bavarian  Palatinate,  1818,  Baden, 
1821,  and  even  in  Wurtemberg  in  1827,  where  the  Re 
formed  had  hardly  an  existence.  But  Saxony,  Hanover, 
Bavaria  proper,  Mecklenburg,  were  too  exclusively  Lu 
theran,  Switzerland  too  exclusively  Reformed,  to  fall  in 
with  a  movement,  which  otherwise,  even  there,  met  with 
decided  sympathy,  and  they  adhered  to  the  former  state 
of  things. 

The  Protestants  in  Austria,  who  live  under  an  absolute 
Roman  Catholic  government,  and  are  only  in  very  remote 


THE  EVANGELICAL  UNION.  185 

connection  with  the  general  life  of  Protestantism,  were 
not  affected  by  the  new  epoch,  and  continue  to  exist  as 
two  separate  branches,  the  Church  of  the  Helvetic  Con 
fession,  and  the  Church  of  the  Augsburg  Confession. 

Thus,  if  the  Union  contemplated  the  absorption  of  all 
the  Protestants  of  Germany  into  one  Church  organiza 
tion,  it  has  by  no  means  succeeded  yet.  For  the  Con 
fessional  Churches  still  exist  in  Switzerland  and  a  con 
siderable  part  of  Germany,  so  that  we  have  now  three 
leading  Protestant  denominations  instead  of  two.  But 
a  beginning  had  to  be  made  somewhere,  with  the  expec 
tation,  of  course,  that  the  movement  would  gradually 
affect  the  entire  Protestant,  and  as  the  concluding  hope 
of  the  royal  Prussian  declaration  of  1817  implies,  even 
the  entire  Christian  world. 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  leading  features  and 
obstructions  in  the  subsequent  development  of  this 
scheme  of  ecclesiastical  Union. 


16' 


CHAPTER    XX. 


THE     CONFLICT     OF     UNIONISM     AND     CONFES- 
SIONALISM. 

Controversies  growing  out  of  the  Union — Their  Causes — The  Proclamation 
of  1817 — The  New  Prussian  Liturgy,  and  the  Old  Lutheran  Secession — 
The  explanatory  Decree  of  1834 — The  Rise  of  New  Lutheranisn  in  the 
Prussian  Establishment — The  Confessional  Separation  in  the  Oberkirchn- 
rath,  1852 — The  Union — Decree  of  1853 — The  proposed  General  Synod 
of  Prussia— The  preparatory  Conference  of  1856— Present  State  of  Parties, 
the  anti-confessional  Unionists,  the  Confessional  Unionists,  and  the  High- 
Church  Confederalists — Prospects. 

THIS  well-meant  work  of  union  and  peace  gave  rise 
to  a  great  deal  of  agitation  and  controversy,  and  is  just 
now  the  burning  question  of  German  Protestantism, 
especially  in  Prussia,  the  principal  battle-field,  on  which 
the  religious  and  political  problems  of  Germany  must  be 
solved.  The  theological  war  now  raging  about  the  union 
or  disunion  of  Lutheranism  and  Reform,  reminds  me 
sometimes  of  our  violent  pro-slavery  and  anti-slavery 
agitation  which  seems  to  deepen  every  year,  throwing 
the  brand  of  discord  into  our  States,  Territories,  and 
Churches,  and  seriously  endangering  the  permanence  of 
our  National  Union.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  cause 
of  union  and  peace  may  triumph,  in  some  form  or  other, 
over  sectional  and  sectarian  division  and  strife.  But  its 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  187 

present  condition  is  certainly  critical  in  both  cases,  while 
it  must  be  admitted,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  very 
opposition  has  revealed  the  intrinsic  strength  and  tena 
city  of  the  Union,  which  may  possibly  outride  all  the 
storms,  and  be  benefited  by  them  in  the  end,  so  as  to 
be  delivered  from  its  present  objectionable  features, 
and  to  assume  a  more  free,  natural  and  homogeneous 
character. 

The  troubles  connected  with  the  Evangelical  Union 
are  owing  partly  to  the  intrinsic  difficulty  and  far-reach 
ing  importance  of  the  work  itself;  partly  to  the  serious 
defects  in  its  origin  and  execution.  Instead  of  growing 
out  naturally  of  the  inner  life  of  the  Church,  it  originated 
with  temporal  princes,  and  was  introduced  (like  the 
Reformation  itself  in  many  countries)  by  virtue  of  the 
ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  crown,  which  may  be 
conceded  to  it  by  human  right,  but  never  by  divine 
right,  the  Church  being  born  free  as  a  supernatural 
constitution,  with  the  inherent  right  and  duty  of  self- 
government.  It  is  true,  the  great  mass  of  the  ministry 
and  people  fell  heartily  in  with  the  measure,  but  to  a 
very  large  extent  from  sheer  indifferentism,  or  at  least 
simply  from  a  vague  and  latitudinarian  catholicity  of 
feeling.  For,  at  that  time  German  Protestantism  had 
hardly  arisen  from  a  death-like  slumber,  and  had  almost 
lost  the  consciousness  of  the  distinctive  doctrines  and 
practices  which  originally  separated  the  two  Confessions 
of  the  Reformation,  and  which  were  now  to  be  merged 
forever  in  the  Union.  Hence  it  was  to  be  expected  that 
the  further  progress  of  Protestantism  in  the  positive  and 
churchly  direction  would  revive  the  old  confessional  con- 


188  THE  CONFLICT  OF 

troversies,  and  in  the  same  measure  shake  the  fabric  of 
a  Union,  which  was  not  the  result  of  an  inward  theolo 
gical  solution  of  the  questions  at  issue,  but  a  measure  of 
state  policy  and  the  product  of  pious  desires. 

Another  objection  to  the  Union  is,  that  it  wished 
to  comprehend  the  entire  Protestant  population,  and 
hence  is  composed,  like  every  state-church,  Lutheran  or 
Reformed,  of  the  most  heterogeneous  materials,  which 
will  necessarily  get  into  conflict  and  collision  as  soon  as 
the  slumber  of  indifferentism  is  broken.  But  it  is  hard 
to  see  how  this  objection  is  to  be  removed,  except  by  a 
separation  of  the  time-honored  connection  of  church  and 
state,  and  a  perfectly  free  development  of  religion,  which 
would  inevitably  result  in  the  breaking  up  of  the  Union, 
or  any  other  ecclesiastical  establishment,  into  an  indefi 
nite  number  of  denominations  and  sects. 

As  the  Union  had  proceeded  from  a  German  Reformed 
king,  the  opposition  to  it  came  from  revived  Lutheranism, 
which,  owing  to  its  closer  affinity  with  the  Catholic  sys 
tem,  is  constitutionally  more  exclusive  and  intolerant  of 
dissent,  than  the  Reformed  communion.  Harms  had 
predicted  it  in  1817  in  one  of  his  95  Theses,  where  he 
says — I  quote  from  memory — "  They  wish  now  to  enrich 
the  Lutheran  Church  as  a  poor  servant  by  a  wealthy 
match.  But  pray  do  not  perform  the  marriage  ceremony 
over  the  bones  of  Luther ;  for  they  will  be  roused  to  life 
by  the  very  act,  and  then  woe  to  you." 

It  would  lead  us  too  far,  of  course,  to  present  a 
detailed  history  of  the  Union.  We  will  point  out  simply 
the  leading  facts  in  order  to  enable  the  reader  to  under 
stand  the  present  confused  condition  of  things.  We 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  189 

may  distinguish  four  epochs  in  the  movements,  and  con 
nect  them  with  four  short  but  important  official  docu 
ments,  (Cabinetsorders,)  two  of  which  were  issued  by 
Frederick  William  III.,  and  two  by  his  present  successor, 
Frederick  William  IV. 

1.  We  commence  with  the  original  proclamation  of 
the  Union,  dated  September  27,  1817.  This  must  be 
regarded  as  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  Prussian  Establish 
ment  under  its  present  form,  and  Prof.  Stahl  is  wrong 
in  claiming  this  honor  for  the  decree  of  1834,  which  is 
simply  an  explanation  of  the  true  meaning  and  import 
of  the  decree  of  1817.  It  opened  the  way  simply  for 
the  Union  as  regards  government  and  worship.  It  left 
the  doctrinal  question  undecided,  and  did  not  even  men 
tion  the  symbolical  books  which  then  had  almost  entirely 
gone  out  of  use.  But  it  contemplated  neither  a  doc 
trinal  absorption  nor  a  mere  confederation,  but  a  real 
union  of  two  bodies  so  as  to  constitute  a  higher  third. 
It  declared  expressly  that  the  plan  proposed  was  neither 
a  transition  of  the  Reformed  Church  to  the  Lutheran, 
nor  of  the  Lutheran  to  the  Reformed,  but  the  exhibition 
of  one  Evangelical  Church,  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Master,  and  grounded  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  was 
thought  that  minor  theological  differences  might  con 
tinue  to  exist  without  interfering  with  the  general  fellow 
ship  and  harmony. 

In  order  to  carry  out  the  Union,  the  late  king  con 
templated  two  things,  the  gradual  introduction  of  Pres 
byterian  and  synodical  government,  which  is  character 
istic  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  of  a  new  liturgy, 
which  was  substantially  taken  from  Lutheran  sources. 
The  former  was  established  already  before  in  the  west- 


190  THE  CONFLICT  OF 

ern  provinces  of  Westphalia  and  the  Rhine,  where  the 
Reformed  element  has  the  preponderance  ;  but  in  the 
eastern  provinces,  where  Lutheranism  prevails,  it  has 
existed  so  far  only  as  a  partial  experiment.  The  latter 
was  accomplished,  but  called  forth  the  first  opposition  to 
the  Union  itself. 

In  1821,  the  King  issued  the  new  liturgy,  which  he 
made  himself,  in  connection  with  his  court  preachers 
and  a  pious  layman  ;  for  the  clerical  commission  en 
trusted  with  this  work  since  1814,  led  to  no  satisfactory 
result.  It  was,  however,  subsequently  submitted  to  con 
sistories  for  revision  in  1829,  and  is  now  undergoing  an 
other  revision.  Although  breathing  a  pious  spirit  and 
marking  a  considerable  improvement  upon  most  of  the 
liturgies  then  in  use,  it  is  still  very  defective,  and  hardly 
satisfies  the  wants  of  the  present  time. 

The  introduction  of  this  guide  of  public  worship  was 
to  realize  and  cement  the  Union  among  the  people. 
But  it  met  with  great  opposition,  partly  from  friends  of 
the  Union,  as  Schleiermacher,  who  justly  doubted  the 
right  of  a  king  thus  to  interfere  with  the  internal  af 
fairs  of  the  Church,  and  disapproved  of  the  arbitrary 
measures  of  the  government  in  its  introduction  ;  partly 
from  the  Reformed  congregations  in  the  Wupperthal  who 
wished  to  retain  more  freedom  in  the  religious  services  ; 
but  especially  from  a  few  Lutheran  ministers  and 
laymen  in  Silesia,  Scheibel,  Huschke  and  Steffens,  who 
objected  to  the  virtual  suppression  of  several  character 
istic  Lutheran  tenets  in  the  eucharistic  and  other  forms 
of  the  king's  liturgy.  For  the  work,  although  selected 
mostly  from  ancient  Lutheran  sources,  was  so  construct 
ed  as  to  suit  equally  the  Reformed,  and  substituted  for 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  191 

the  old  Lutheran  formula  of  distribution,  "  This  is  the 
true  body  of  Christ,"  the  declarative  words,  "  Christ 
says,  this  is  my  body." 

The  harsh  treatment  of  these  dissenting  Lutherans, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  faults,  is  the  dark  spot  in 
the  history  of  the  Prussian  Union.  Their  leaders  were 
fined,  imprisoned  and  vexed  in  various  ways,  till  the  ac 
cession  of  the  present  King  in  1840,  who  strongly  dis 
approves  of  all  compulsion  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  and 
permitted  the  Old  Lutherans,  as  they  are  called,  to  or 
ganize  themselves  into  a  separate  ecclesiastical  body, 
without  giving  them,  however,  a  share  in  the  national 
church-property.  A  number  of  them,  in  the  times  of 
their  severest  trials,  emigrated  to  the  United  States, 
where  they  belong  to  the  Synods  of  Buffalo  and  Mis 
souri. 

2.  Tha  opposition  to  the  liturgy,  and  the  Old  Luthe 
ran  troubles,  called  forth  the  second  royal  decree,  on 
this  subject,  dated  February  28,  1834.  It  goes  a  step 
beyond  the  first  as  regards  the  doctrinal  aspect  of  the 
Union,  and  was  intended  to  prevent  further  separation, 
by  declaring  the  continued  validity  and  authority  of  the 
symbolical  books  of  the  two  confessions.  The  Union  is 
here  pretty  much  reduced  to  a  "  spirit  of  moderation 
and  mildness,"  (Greist  der  Mcissigung  und  Milde^)  which 
should  hold  fast  to  the  fundamental  agreement  of  the 
two  churches,  and  the  principle  of  church  communion, 
notwithstanding  the  doctrinal  differences  still  existing. 
This  order  of  1834  then,  must  be  regarded  as  a  conces 
sion  to  confessionalism,  and  more  particularly  to  Lu- 
theranism. 


192  THE  CONFLICT  OF 

The  confessional  tendency  grew  more  and  more  in 
opposition  to  a  false  anti-symbolic  and  semi-rationalistic 
liberalism,  and  especially  in  opposition  to  the  wild  revo 
lutionary  spirit  which  was  let  loose  in  1848,  and  threat 
ened  for  a  while  to  sweep  away  the  Church  itself. 

Since  that  time  there  arose  in  the  bosom  of  the  Evan 
gelical  Church  itself,  and  in  close  connection  with  the 
political  reaction,  a  powerful  Lutheran  party,  headed 
by  Hengstenberg,  Stahl,  Goschel,  von  Gerlach,  and 
others.  These  New  Lutherans,  as  they  are  called  in 
distinction  from  the  Old  Lutheran  seceders,  profess  a 
high  regard  for  the  Reformed  Church,  where  it  exists  in 
its  original  vigor  and  purity,  and  concede  to  it  peculiar 
excellences,  such  as,  to  use  the  words  of  Stahl,  "the 
sanctification  of  the  congregation,  the  building  up  of  a 
well  defined  system  of  Christian  institutions  and  Chris 
tian  life  on  the  basis  of  a  vigorous  congregational  faith, 
and  an  energetic,  aggressive,  life-reforming  Christian 
ity."  Hengstenberg  and  Gerlach  are  themselves  of  Re 
formed  origin,  and  Stahl  is  married  to  a  Reformed  lady. 
But  they  hate  and  abhor  rationalism  and  latitudinarian- 
ism  in  every  form,  and  object  to  every  scheme  of  Union, 
which  does  not  full  justice  to  the  ancient  confessions. 
They  also  regard  the  Lutheran  system  as  more  orthodox, 
churchly,  conservative  and  catholic,  and  better  adapted 
to  the  genius  of  the  German  nation,  than  the  Reformed, 
and  hence  their  personal  sympathies  are  all  on  the -side 
of  Lutheranism.  But  instead  of  seceding  from  the 
established  Church  of  Prussia,  as  the  Old  Lutherans 
did,  this  party  labors  to  make  the  Union  itself  more  and 
more  subservient  to  the  interests  of  high  church  Luther- 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  193 

anism,  or  at  least  to  reduce  it  to  a  mere  mechanical  con 
federation  on  strictly  confessional  ground. 

3.  The  present  king  of  Prussia  so  far  yielded  to  the 
pressure  of  this  influential  party,   as  to  allow,  by  an 
order  of  March  6,  1852,  a  confessional  division  in  the 
Oberkirchenrath,  the  highest    ecclesiastical   tribunal  of 
the  Evangelical  Church  in  Prussia,  which  he  founded  in 
1850,  with  the  view  to  give  it  more  independence.     Ac 
cordingly,  in  the  session  of  this  body  on  the   14th  of 
July,  1852,  Uechtritz,  Neander,   (the   bishop,  not  the 
historian,)  Strauss,  Muehler,  Twesten  and  Richter,  de 
clared  themselves  Lutherans,  friendly  to  the   Union,  in 
the  sense   of  the  royal   order  of  February  28,   1834, 
which  maintains  the  Union  without  weakening  the  au 
thority  of  the  old  confessions.     Bollert  and  Snethlage 
professed  the  Reformed  faith,  with  the  same  assent  to 
the  Union,  as  existing  in  Prussia  de  jure  and  de  facto. 
Stahl,  with  whom  the  scheme  seems  to  have  originated, 
declared  himself  a  pure  Lutheran,  without  any  qualify 
ing  clause.     The  same  course  was  pursued  by  Cappell, 
(although  he  was  originally  Reformed,)  when  he  entered 
the  Oberkirchenrath  a  few  weeks  later.     Nitzsch  was 
the  only  member  who  represented  the  principle  of  the 
Union  in  the  confessional  sense,  by  declaring  that  he 
belonged  to  both  churches,  viz.  :  the  consensus  of  both. 
He  received  subsequently  a  strong  support  in  the  per 
son  of  Hoffmann,  formerly  president  of  the  Evangelical 
Missionary   establishment    at   Basel,    arid   now   Court- 
preacher  and  general  superintendent   at   Berlin,  .and 
member  of  the  Oberkirchenrath. 

4.  This  arrangement  of  1852  seems  to  resolve  the 

17 


194  THE  CONFLICT  OF 

Union  of  the  two  confessions  into  a  mere  confederation 
of  three  parties,  the  Lutherans,  the  Reformed,  and  the 
Unionists  or  Evangelicals  proper.  But  it  called  forth 
vigorous  protests  from  the  Prussian  Universities,  which 
show  how  deeply  rooted  the  Union  sentiments  are.  The 
King  himself  issued  a  new  order  in  July  12,  1853,  the 
last  official  royal  document  on  this  subject,  which  may 
be  regarded  as  a  reaction  against  confessionalism  as  far 
as  this  tends  to  undermine  the  Union.  He  declares 
there,  that  the  decree  of  1852  was  intended  simply  to 
secure  to  the  confessions  all  proper  guarantee  and  pro 
tection  within  the  established  Church,  but  by  no  means 
to  abolish  or  even  to  disturb  the  Union  of  the  two  evan 
gelical  denominations,  founded  by  his  father,  and  to 
create  a  schism  in  the  national  Church.  He  directs  the 
Oberkirchenrath  in  Berlin  and  all  the  provincial  con 
sistories  to  resist  such  inferences,  and  to  maintain  the 
Union. 

This  declaration  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  determi 
nation  of  the  King  to  carry  on  the  work  commenced 
by  his  father.  His  reply  to  an  address  of  the  Lutheran 
Conference  held  at  Wittenberg  in  October,  1853,  is  still 
more  decided,  and  reveals  a  great  deal  of  dissatisfaction, 
on  his  part,  with  the  restless  and  exclusive  spirit  of  the 
stiff  Lutheran  party.  He  has  even  recently  expressed 
his  full  sympathy  with  the  objects  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  of  all  evangelical  Protestants,  and  invited  the 
leaders  of  this  movement  in  England  and  Scotland,  to 
hold  their  next  general  conference  at  Berlin,  to  the 
great  dissatisfaction  of  the  New  Lutherans,  who  arc 
strongly  opposed  to  the  principles  of  religious  liberty, 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  195 

and  to  all  connection  with  English  Dissenters,  such  as 
the  Baptists  and  Independents. 

Another  still  more  important  step  of  the  king,  is  the 
resolution  to  call  a  General  Synod  during  the  year  1857, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  and  carrying  on  the  work 
of  the  General  Synod  of  1846,  which  was  interrupted 
by  the  revolution  of  1848.  The  Confessionalists  have 
no  confidence  whatever  in  deliberative  bodies,  either  in 
politics  or  religion,  and  expect  from  it  nothing  but  idle 
talk  and  agitation.  Hcngstenberg,  Stahl  and  Herr  von 
Raumer  are  absolutists  in  church  and  state ;  they  think 
that  all  help  must  come  from  above,  from  the  govern 
ment,  and  that  the  congregations  in  their  present  homo 
geneous  and  indifferent  characters  cannot  be  safely  en 
trusted  with  any  participation  in  legislative  measures. 
But  the  King,  although  by  no  means  a  strong  and  de 
termined  character,  but  yielding  and  conciliatory  to  a 
fault,  is  bent  upon  this  Synod. 

He  summoned,  therefore,  a  preparatory  Evangelical 
Conference  of  fifty-seven  delegates,  which  met  in  one  of 
the  palaces  of  Berlin,  in  November,  1856,  to  take  into 
consideration  the  same  questions  which  will  claim,  in  a 
final  manner,  the  attention  of  the  proposed  synod,  viz.  : 
the  introduction  of  a  Presbyterian  form  of  government 
into  the  congregations  of  the  Eastern  provinces,  the 
revival  of  the  institutions  of  deacons  and  deaconesses, 
the  revision  of  the  present  liturgy,  the  reform  of  the 
laws  of  marriage.  Most  of  these  topics  affect  directly  or 
indirectly  the  very  constitution  of  the  Union.  Although 
the  Conference  has  no  legislative,  but  merely  advisory 
power,  it  will  pretty  much  determine  the  course  of  the 


196  THE  CONFLICT  OF 

Synod,  unless  this  should  be  composed  of  different  ma 
terial. 

It  was  expected  that  the  positive  Unionists,  or  the 
party  of  Nitzsch,  Muller,  Hoffman,  Tholuck,  Krumma- 
cher,  von  Bethmann  Holhveg,  etc.,  would  have  the  pre 
ponderance.  But  I  learn  from  private  letters  of  members 
of  the  Conference  and  others,  that  the  party  of  the  high 
church  Confessional ists  to  their  own  agreeable  disappoint 
ment,  have  in  the  first  sessions  carried  the  day,  especially 
in  the  question  of  congregational  self-government.  It  is 
possible,  that  the  Unionists  yielded  that  point,  in  order 
to  secure  the  more  influence  in  other  questions.  But  it 
is  very  unlikely  that  the  high  church  Lutheran  tendency 
in  Prussia,  backed  as  it  is  by  a  similar  movement  in 
Saxony,  Bavaria,  Hanover,  and  Mecklenberg,  can  be 
stopped.  It  is  the  nature  of  a  movement  that  it  moves 
and  moves  until  its  inward  life  and  energy  is  exhausted. 
Principles  must  work  themselves  out,  and  it  is  worse 
than  useless  to  stop  their  legitimate  development. 

5.  The  state  of  church  parties  in  Prussia  then,  at  the 
moment  we  write  (December,  1856,)  is  this : 

Rationalism  proper  is  dead,  and  has  not  a  single  repre 
sentative  in  the  Evangelical  Conference  now  assembled 
in  Berlin. 

The  anti-confessional  or  latitudinarian  Unionists,  who 
base  themselves  on  the  Bible  simply,  without  the  church 
symbols,  and  embrace,  besides  the  left  wing  of  Schleier- 
macher's  school,  a  number  of  liberal  divines  of  different 
shades  of  opinions,  held  together  by  the  mutual  opposi 
tion  to  the  reactionary  tendencies  in  religion  and  politics, 
are  deprived  of  power  and  influence  in  the  highest  coun- 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  197 

cils ;  but  they  still  live,  are  numerically  strong  in  the 
ministry  and  laity,  and  hope  for  a  radical  change  in 
their  favor  in  case  of  an  accession  of  the  Prince  of 
Prussia  to  the  throne,  who  is  known  to  be  opposed  to 
high-church  tendencies,  and  rather  loose  and  indifferent 
in  matters  of  religion.  But,  as  he  is  only  two  years 
younger  than  the  king,  his  brother,  such  an  event  is 
neither  probable  nor  desirable. 

The  evangelical  Unionists,  or  the  consensus  party, 
which  takes  for  its  doctrinal  basis  the  Bible,  and  the 
common  dogmas  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Con 
fessions,  is  strongest  in  the  universities,  but  in  the  min 
ority  in  the  Oberkirchenrath. 

The  strict  Confessionalists,  who  regard  the  Union  as 
a  mere  confederation  of  the  two  Confessions  under  a 
common  state-church  government,  and  who  are  for  the 
most  part  strict  symbolical  Lutherans  and  monarchical 
absolutists,  although  comparatively  small  in  number, 
have  at  present  the  ascendancy  in  the  seats  of  power 
and  influence.  It  can  hardly  be  disputed  that  the  ulti 
mate  tendency  of  their  zealous  efforts  is  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union  altogether.  A  few  of  them  have  a  strong 
leaning  to  Romanism,  and  would  at  any  time  prefer  a 
union  with  Popery  to  a  union  with  the  Reformed  con 
fession.  Their  Lutheran  brethren  of  other  states  have 
quite  recently,  in  a  conference  at  Dresden,  resolved 
upon  the  reintroduction  of  auricular  confession.  "  Straws 
show  which  way  the  wind  blows." 

In  the  case  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Prussian  Union, 
which  though  not  very  probable,  is  by  no  means  impos 
sible,  both  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed  churches 

17* 


198  THE  CONFLICT  OF 

would  be  reorganized  on  their  separate  confessional 
basis.  But  the  majority  of  the  people  would  not  be 
prepared  to  go  back  to  the  old  state  of  things  which 
they  regard  as  for  ever  surmounted  by  the  Union  of 
1817.  The  radical  Unionists  would  perhaps  run  into 
the  principle  of  independency.  The  orthodox  Union 
ists  would  strive  to  build  up  a  United  Evangelical 
Church,  on  the  consensus  of  the  two  confessions,  with  a 
small  membership,  perhaps,  at  the  beginning,  but — as  an 
intelligent  correspondent  of  the  New  York  "Independ 
ent  "  said  some  time  ago — "  with  more  theological  learn 
ing  at  her  command  than  any  other  church  on  the 
globe." 

None  of  the  three  parties  is  willing  to  separate  it 
self  from  the  connection  with  the  state,  each  striving  to 
obtain  the  lion's  share  in  the  control  of  the  establish 
ment.  But  all  the  apparent  indications  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  the  principle  of  freedom  of  religion 
and  public  worship,  as  already  remarked,  is  making  slow 
but  sure  and  steady  progress  all  over  Europe,  and  the 
time  may  not  be  far  distant,  when  the  present  relation 
of  church  and  state  will  undergo  a  radical  change. 

The  present  state  of  the  Prussian  Union  is  very  ex 
cited,  confused,  unsatisfactory  and  critical.  But  it 
must  not  be  forgotten,  that  its  very  troubles  and  agita 
tions  are  indications  of  life  and  energy,  as  the  somewhat 
similar  movements  of  the  low-church,  high-church,  and 
broad-church  parties  in  the  Anglican  Communion,  and 
must  result  at  last  in  good.  For  nothing  can  be  con 
sidered  a  failure  which  essentially  belongs  to  the  ever  pro 
gressing  historical  development  of  Christ's  kingdom  on 


UNIONISM  AND  CONFESSIONALISM.  199 

earth.  The  great  merits  especially  of  the  German  evange 
lical  Union-divines  for  the  solution  of  the  doctrinal  differ 
ences  between  the  two  great  divisions  of  Protestantism, 
and  for  the  promotion  of  all  branches  of  sacred  science 
and  literature,  are  immortal,  and  have  already  made  an 
impression  upon  the  more  recent  French,  Dutch,  English, 
Scotch  and  American  theology,  which  can  never  be 
effaced. 

Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  Prussian 
and  other  ecclesiastical  establishments,  the  work  of 
Union  itself,  lies  deeply  in  the  wants  of  the  church  and 
the  present  age,  and  will  go  on  therefore,  in  some  form 
or  other,  until  the  Lord,  in  his  own  good  time,  will 
crown  the  feeble  efforts  of  his  people  and  realize,  in  a 
far  better  form  than  we  can  conceive,  the  precious  and 
unfailing  promise  of  the  one  flock  under  one  shepherd. 

A  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  deep  rooted  tendency 
of  the  better  spirit  of  the  age  towards  a  union  and  con 
solidation  of  Christendom,  we  have  in  the  important 
facts  of  the  Evangelical  Church  Diet  of  Germany,  and 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  of  England,  both  of  which  are 
altogether  independent  of  state-church  control,  and  look 
towards  a  free  voluntary  harmony  and  cooperation  of 
the  various  sections  of  evangelical  Protestantism. 

P.  S. — Since  the  above  was  written,  we  received  full 
reports  of  the  "Evangelical  Conference"  of  Berlin,  from 
which  we  learn  that  it  closed  its  sessions  December  5, 
1856;  that  it  turned  out  much  more  favorable  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union,  than  was  at  first  expected ;  and 
that  it  led  upon  the  whole  to  important  and  encouraging 
results. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


THE     EVANGELICAL    CHURCH     DIET. 

General  Character  and  Object  of  the  Kirchentag — Its  Origin  in  the  revolu 
tionary  year  1848 — The  Sandhoff  Conference — Dr.  von  Bethmann  Holl- 
weg — First  Meeting  at  Wittenberg  on  Luther's  and  Melanthon's  grave  — 
Peculiar  Solemnity  and  Importance  of  the  First  Meeting — Its  Results — 
Relation  of  the  Church  Diet  to  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  and  to  the 
Evangelical  Union. 

THE  German  Evangelical  Church  Diet  has  now  been 
in  existence  since  1848,  and  become  one  of  the  most  im 
portant  and  encouraging  facts  in  the  history  of  modern 
Protestantism.  A  condensed  account  of  its  origin,  his 
tory,  influence  and  prospects,  based  upon  the  official 
reports  of  its  proceedings,  as  they  were  published  from 
year  to  year,  upon  personal  observations  made  at  its 
seventh  meeting  at  Frankfort  on  the  Maine,  and  upon 
intercourse  and  correspondence  with  its  founders  and 
leading  members,  must  be  both  interesting  and  instruc 
tive  to  those  who  wish  to  become  fully  acquainted  with 
the  present  state  of  theology  and  religion  in  the  land  of 
the  Reformation. 

The  Kirchentag,  or  Church  Diet,  is  a  free  association 
of  pious  professors,  ministers  and  laymen  of  Protestant 
Germany,  for  the  discussion  of  the  religious  and  eccle- 


THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET.        201 

siastical  questions  of  the  day,  and  for  the  promotion  of 
the  interests  of  practical  Christianity,  embraced  under 
the  term  Inner  Mission.  It  meets  annually  in  one  of 
the  leading  cities  of  Germany,  and  is  at  present  by  far 
the  largest  and  most  respectable  representation  of  Evan 
gelical  Christianity  in  that  country.  Its  doctrinal  basis 
is  the  Bible,  as  explained  by  the  ecumenical  symbols 
and  the  evangelical  confessions  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
It  comprehends  thus  far  only  four  Protestant  denomina 
tions,  the  Lutheran,  German  Reformed,  United  Evan 
gelical,  and  the  Moravian  brotherhood,  but  it  holds 
intercourse  at  the  same  time  with  foreign  Evangelical 
Societies  and  Churches  of  Switzerland,  France,  Holland, 
England,  Scotland,  and  the  United  States,  as  far  as 
they  may  choose  to  have  themselves  represented  at  its 
meetings,  by  official  delegates  on  the  above  general 
Christian  and  positive  Protestant  basis.  The  Church 
Diet  is  no  formal  or  official  union  of  these  denomina 
tions,  but  a  free  confederation  simply  of  many  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  their  ministerial  and  lay  members, 
although  it  looks  undoubtedly  to  a  stronger  consolida 
tion  and  cooperation  of  the  original  Churches  of  the 
Reformation  against  their  common  enemies  from  with 
out  and  from  within.  All  parts  of  Germany,  especially 
Prussia  and  WUrtemberg,  the  two  leading  Evangelical 
States,  send  delegates  to  this  body,  and  amongst  them 
their  very  best  men.  But  the  rationalists  and  semi- 
rationalists,  as  well  as  those  rigid  Lutherans  who  refuse 
to  hold  any  ecclesiastical  communion  with  the  Reformed 
and  the  Unionists,  oppose  it, — the  former,  because  it  is 
too  orthodox  and  churchly  for  them ;  the  latter,  because 


202        THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET. 

it  is  not  confessional  and  churchly  enough,  in  their  sec 
tarian  and  exclusive  sense  of  the  term. 

This  assembly  may  be  regarded  as  the  practical  fruit 
of  that  vigorous  evangelical  theology  which,  for  the  last 
twenty  or  thirty  years,  has  risen  in  successful  opposition 
to  the  most  learned  and  dangerous  forms  of  infidel 
ity.  The  leaders  of  that  theology,  as  Tholuck,  Nitzsch, 
Miiller,  Hengstenberg,  Dorner,  Ullmann,  Hoffmann,  Eb- 
rard,  Lange,  etc.,  are  also  amongst  the  principal  foun 
ders  and  supporters  of  the  Kirchentag.  But  the  war, 
victoriously  waged  in  the  field  of  science  and  literature, 
must  now  be  carried  into  the  congregations  and  the 
practical  life  of  the  people.  This  work  must  be  con 
tinued  and  completed  by  the  rising  generation  of  minis 
ters  trained  by  orthodox  and  pious  professors,  by  the 
various  Church-governments,  and  by  free  associations, 
of  which  the  one  under  consideration  is  by  far  the 
largest  and  most  influential. 

The  German  Church  Diet  took  its  rise  in  the  eventful 
year  1848,  when  all  the  thrones  of  Europe — save  those 
of  England,  Belgium,  and  Russia — trembled,  and  the 
very  foundations  of  civil  and  religious  society  seemed  to 
give  way,  to  make  room,  as  was  to  be  feared,  to  a  reign 
of  rationalism,  atheism  and  Satanism.  It  appeared  after 
the  storms  and  earthquakes  of  revolution,  as  a  rainbow 
of  peace  and  promise,  on  the  horizon  of  Germany,  and 
has  outlived  the  commotions  and  mushroom  creations, 
the  bright  hopes  and  dark  fears  of  the  memorable  year 
of  its  birth. 

It  is  true  it  was  prepared  long  before  by  the  pastoral 
conferences,  which,  since  the  days  of  a  revival  of  reli- 


THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET.        203 

gious  life,  assembled  annually  pious  ministers  and  laymen 
in  various  parts  of  Germany ;  and  also  by  the  desire  of 
many  of  the  most  distinguished  divines,  for  a  closer  union 
and  independent  action  of  the  national  churches,  held 
under  the  bondage  of  as  many  secular  governments. 
But  the  imminent  danger  of  an  approaching  dissolution 
of  all  order  in  that  revolutionary  year  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  labors  of  the  Parliament  of  Frankfort  for  a 
political  regeneration  of  Germany  on  the  basis  of  unity 
and  constitutional  liberty,  on  the  other,  matured  this 
desire  and  suggested  the  plan  of  a  great  meeting  of  all 
the  true  friends  of  Christianity,  for  mutual  consultation 
on  the  present  crisis  of  the  country,  and  for  forming  a 
confederation  of  the  Protestant  Churches  without  des 
troying  their  distinctive  features  or  interfering  with 
their  internal  affairs ;  in  fine,  a  sort  of  evangelical  defen 
sive  and  offensive  alliance  against  the  growing  flood  of 
infidelity  and  destruction. 

These  ideas  sprang  up  simultaneously,  as  with  the  in 
stinct  of  historical  necessity,  in  different  minds,  amongst 
which  Dr.  von  Bethmann  Hollweg,  of  Berlin,  Dr.  Dorner, 
then  at  Bonn,  Dr.  Ullrnan  and  Hundeshagen,  of  Heidel 
berg,  Dr.  Wackernagel,  then  at  Wiesbaden,  Bonnet,  Hel 
ler  and  Haupt,  in  or  near  Frankfort,  were  the  most 
active ;  and  in  several  local  pastoral  conferences,  espe 
cially  one  held  at  Bonn,  on  the  llth  of  May,  1848,  one 
at  Berlin,  on  the  21st  of  June,  and  two  at  the  Sandhof, 
near  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  on  the  3d  of  May  and  21st 
of  June,  of  the  same  year. 

At  the  last  mentioned  meeting  many  perplexities 
arose,  and  doubts  were  started  as  to  the  success  of  such 


204        THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET. 

a  serious  undertaking,  when  a  true  Christian  nobleman, 
von  Bethmann  Hollweg,  who  was  subsequently  elected 
president  of  the  Kirchentag  at  every  one  of  its  meetings, 
quieted  their  fears  and  re-animated  their  courage  by 
pointing  to  the  never-failing  source  of  all  true  strength. 
"It  is  the  Lord,  my  friends,"  he  said,  "who  builds  the 
Church.  Never  forget  this  !  Whether  the  assembly 
spoken  of  will  accomplish  what  we  desire  and  hope,  no 
one  can  tell.  Our  resolution  must  be  an  act  of  faith. 
Like  Peter,  we  shall  have  to  walk  on  the  sea ;  but  we 
know  also  that  the  Lord  does  not  suffer  any  one  to  perish 
who  trusts  in  him.  If  we  look  merely  upon  ourselves 
and  upon  the  scattered,  distracted  and  weak  members  of 
the  Church,  we  would  have  indeed  to  despair.  But  if 
we  raise  our  eyes  in  faith  to  Him,  who  is  the  Lord,  we 
may  venture  it." 

Finally,  the  Sandhof  Conference,  after  a  session  of 
nine  hours,  resolved  to  call  a  general  free  assembly  of 
distinguished  ministers  and  laymen  of  the  Lutheran, 
German  Reformed,  and  United  Confessions,  to  be  held 
at  Wittenberg,  over  the  grave  of  Luther,  for  the  purpose 
of  consulting  on  the  true  interests  of  the  Evangelical 
Church  of  Germany  at  the  present  crisis,  on  the  basis 
of  the  evangelical  faith.  An  invitation  to  this  effect 
was  issued,  signed  by  nearly  fifty  names  from  all  parts 
of  Germany,  well  know^n  for  their  distinguished  merits, 
high  standing  and  excellent  Christian  character. 

Accordingly,  the  first  Kirchentag,  consisting  of  five 
hundred  members,  eminent  divines  arid  ministers,  (Nit- 
zsch,  Mliller,  Heubner,  Hengstenberg,  Lehnerdt,  Sack, 
Sartorius,  Krummacher,  Ball,  Wichern,  etc.,)  statesmen 


THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET.        205 

and  lawyers,  (von  Bcthmann  Hollweg,  Stahl,  von  Ger- 
lach,  Gotze,  etc.,)  and  plain  Christians  of  all  classes  of 
society  and  parts  of  Germany,  especially  from  Prussia, 
met  as  one  brotherhood  on  the  21st  of  September,  1848, 
in  that  venerable  town  so  well  known  as  the  cradle  of 
the  Reformation,  in  that  very  church  to  whose  doors  its 
signal,  the  ninety-five  theses,  were  once  affixed,  and  on 
the  tombstones  of  Luther  and  his  friend,  Melanthon, 
whose  last  desire  and  prayer  was  for  the  unity  of  dis 
tracted  Christendom.  The  old  lecturer's  chair  of  the 
former  university  was  used  as  the  rostrum,  adorned  with 
the  portrait  of  Luther,  and  with  the  significant  motto 
of  the  Reformation,  "Verio  solo— fide  sola,"  (On  the 
word  alone — through  faith  alone.)  A  fervent  prayer 
of  the  late  venerable  Dr.  Heubner,  then  president  of 
the  theological  seminary  at  Wittenberg,  and  the  singing 
of  the  celebrated  war-and-victory  hymn  of  the  evan 
gelical  faith,  written  by  Luther  a  year  before  the  Diet 
of  Augsburg,  opened  the  proceedings.  It  faithfully 
expressed  the  feelings  which  pervaded  this  first  meeting 
from  beginning  to  end,  much  better  than  we  could  do  it, 
and  may,  therefore,  claim  a  place  here  in  the  admirable 
translation  of  Thomas  Carlyle. 

A  safe  stronghold  our  God  is  still 
A  trusty  shield  and  weapon  ; 
He'll  help  us  clear  from  all  the  ill 
That  hath  us  now  o'ertaken. 
The  ancient  Prince  of  hell 
Hath  risen  with  purpose  fell, 
Strong  mail  of  craft  and  power 
lie  weareth  in  this  hour, 
On  earth  is  not  his  fellow. 
18 


206        THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET. 

With  force  of  arms  we  nothing  can, 
.Full  soon  were  we  down-ridden ; 
But  for  us  fights  the  proper  man, 
Whom  God  himself  hath  bidden. 
Ask  ye,  Who  is  this  same  ? 
CHRIST  JESUS  is  his  name, 
The  Lord  Zebaoth's  Son, 
He,  and  no  other  one, 
Shall  conquer  in  the  battle. 

And  were  the  world  all  Devils  o'er 
And  watching  to  devour  us, 
We  lay  it  not  to  heart  so  sore, 
Not  they  can  overpow'r  us. 
And  let  the  Prince  of  ill 
Look  grim  as  e'er  he  will, 
He  harms  us  not  a  whit, 
For  why  ?     His  doom  is  writ — 
A  word  shall  quickly  slay  him. 

God's  word,  for  all  their  craft  and  force, 

One  moment  will  not  linger, 

But  spite  of  hell,  shall  have  its  course, 

;Tis  written  by  His  finger. 

And  though  they  take  our  life, 

Goods,  honor,  children,  wife, 

Yet  is  their  profit  small ; 

These  things  shall  vanish  all, 

The  Church  of  God  reniaineth. 

The  significance  of  the  first  Kirchentag  will  be  better 
understood,  if  we  recollect  all  the  revolutionary  storms, 
wars  and  rumors  of  war,  by  which  it  was  surrounded. 
The  frightful  murder  of  Lichnowsky  and  Auerswald 
had  just  been  committed  in  the  streets  of  Frankfort,  and 
broken  the  remaining  moral  strength  of  the  national 


THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET.        207 

assembly;  the  excesses  of  the  revolutionists  and  des- 
tructionists  had  reached  their  height,  and  the  future 
looked  dark  and  gloomy  as  it  never  did  before.  With 
such  prospects  before  them,  the  assembly  at  Wittenberg 
felt  the  whole  weight  of  its  awful  responsibility;  past 
differences  were  forgotten,  and  the  disciples  of  one  com 
mon  Master  pressed  together  into  a  close  adhesion  and 
holy  brotherhood  as  they  awaited  the  issue  of  their  own 
yet  dimly  apprehended  mission.  Surrounded,  as  they 
were,  by  the  sacred  associations  of  the  most  remarkable 
period  in  modern  church  history,  they  looked  less  to 
Luther's  name,  so  long  abused  by  dead  churches,  than 
to  Luther's  God,  and  were  animated  by  the  very  spirit 
of  repentance  and  faith,  of  humble  self-distrust  and 
strong  confidence  in  Christ  which  had  animated  the  re 
former,  without  suffering  themselves  to  be  distracted  by 
the  minor  domestic  controversies  which  disfigured  the 
great  work  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

"It  was,"  says  a  well  informed  and  esteemed  English 
friend,  on  this  meeting,  (Mr.  Tho.  H.  Gladstone,  in  an 
article  on  the  Kirchentag  for  the  London  Eclectic  Re 
view,  April,  1855,)  "  it  was  indeed  a  new  and  interest 
ing  sight  to  behold  the  learned  professor  seated  side  by 
side  with  the  simple-minded  Christian,  the  dignified 
ecclesiastic  taking  brotherly  counsel  with  the  humble 
lay-missionary  or  provincial  school  teacher.  It  was  no 
less  a  strangely  novel  spectacle  to  see  the  strongest  up 
holders  of  the  respective  orthodoxies,  Lutheran  and 
Reformed,  forgetting  doctrinal  differences  in  the  har 
mony  of  Christian  purpose  and  Christian  love;  still 
more  to  see  the  object  of  their  common  jealousy,  the 


208  THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET. 

"United"  Church,  as  well  as  the  Moravian  and  other 
dissenting  communities,  completing  the  picture  of  Chris 
tian  union  and  brotherly  love  by  being  admitted  to  their 
association  without  question  of  their  ecclesiastical  polity 
or  church  rule.  All  seemed  to  point  to  the  dawning  of 
a  better  day.  And  the  tempest  of  persecution  with 
which  the  Church  was  assailed,  appeared  already  con 
verted  into  a  blessing,  in  the  recognition  of  its  essential 
unity,  and  the  sense  of  the  mutual  dependence  of  its 
parts  as  members  of  that  mystic  body  which  is  one  in 
its  living  Head.  This  feeling  of  Christian  fellowship 
was  heightened  to  the  sublime,  and  received  an  expres 
sion  too  deeply  affecting  ever  to  be  erased  from  the 
memory  of  those  who  witnessed  the  scene,  when,  at  a 
solemn  moment  on  the  last  day,  the  earnest  Krumma- 
cher,  in  one  of  his  fervent  addresses,  pledged  the  mem 
bers  to  stand  true  to  one  another  in  the  day  of  persecu 
tion,  which  seemed  about  to  burst  upon  them,  and  re 
ceived  in  the  prolonged  affirmation  of  the  whole  assem 
bly,  the  assurance  that  they  would  bear  each  other  as 
members  of  one  family  in  their  hearts  and  prayers, 
would  receive  each  other  in  the  day  of  persecution  to 
house  and  home  till  the  storm  should  be  overpast,  and 
would  account  as  their  own  sister  and  their  own  children 
the  widows  and  orphans  of  the  brother  who  should  seal 
his  testimony  by  the  martyr's  death." 

The  results  to  which  this  deeply  solemn  and  interest 
ing  assembly  arrived  in  three  days  session  (from  the  21st 
to  the  23d  of  Sept.,)  were  : 

1.  An  invitation  addressed  to  all  the  Protestant 
Churches  of  Germany,  to  hold  on  the  5th  of  November, 


THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET.        209 

1848,  the  Sunday  following  the  anniversary  of  the  Re 
formation,  a  day  of  general  prayer  and  humiliation,  in 
order  to  begin  the  work  of  the  regeneration  of  Protes 
tantism  with  the  same  spirit  of  true  evangelical  repent 
ance,  with  which  Luther  commenced  the  Reformation, 
and  which  he  so  clearly  expressed  in  the  very  first  of  his 
ninety-five  theses. 

2.  A  resolution  to  form  a  confederation  of  all  those 
German  Churches  which  stand  on  the  ground  of  the 
reformatory  confessions,  not  for  the  purpose  of  an  amal 
gamation  of  these  churches  and  an  extinction  of  their 
peculiarities  and  relative  independence,  but  (a)  for  the 
representation  and  promotion  of  the  essential  unity  and 
brotherly  harmony  of  the  evangelical  churches ;  (b)  for 
united  testimony  against  every  thing  unevangelical ;  (c) 
for  mutual  counsel  and  aid ;  (d)  for  the  decision  of  con 
troversies  ;  (e)  for  the  furtherance  of  ecclesiastical  and 
social  reforms,  especially  Inner  Mission;  (/)  for  the 
protection  and  defense  of  the  divine  and  human-  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  evangelical  church ;  (g)  for  forming 
and  promoting  the  bond  of  union  with  all  evangelical 
bodies  out  of  Germany. 

We  see  from  all  this,  that  the  first  Kirchentag  was 
animated  by  a  truly  Christian  spirit,  placed  itself  wisely 
on  the  most  solid  basis,  viz. :  the  Gospel  and  the  Refor 
mation,  evangelical  repentance  and  evangelical  faith, 
and  proposed  the  noblest  practical  aims,  which  are  well 
worthy  of  the  united  efforts  of  all  Protestant  Churches, 
in  and  out  of  Germany.  It  is  evident,  from  its  subse 
quent  history,  that  the  Lord  has  eminently  blessed  it  for 
the  good  of  his  Church,  although  its  original  plan  of  an 

18* 


210  THE  EVANGELICAL  CHtfllCH  DIET. 

official  confederation   was  never  realized,   and  silently 
dropped. 

But  before  we  follow  its  progress,  we  must  say  a  few 
words  on  the  relation  of  the  Church  Diet  to  a  somewhat 
similar  body,  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  This  originated 
two  years  earlier,  in  August,  1846.  It  met  first  under 
the  name  of  the  "World's  Convention,"  in  the  city  of 
London,  and  consisted  of  nine  hundred  and  twenty-one 
members ;  forty-seven  of  which  were  from  the  Continent, 
eighty-seven  from  North  America,  the  rest  from  Eng 
land  and  Scotland.  It  convened  again  in  London  dur 
ing  the  World's  Fair,  in  1851,  a  third  time  at  Paris,  in 
1855,  and  is  to  meet  at  Berlin  in  1857,  at  the  special 
invitation  of  the  King  of  Prussia. 

Both  the  Kirchentag  and  the  Alliance  are  no  union  of 
Churches,  but  a  union  of  Christians,  laymen  as  well  as 
ministers ;  no  legislative  assembly,  but  simply  a  free  as 
sociation  with  moral  power.  Both  afford  an  admirable 
occasion  for  Christians  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  to 
hold  fellowship  and  consult  with  each  other  about  the 
common  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  Both 
tend  thus  to  promote  the  true  unity  of  the  spirit,  and  to 
strengthen  the  interests  of  divided  Protestantism.  But 
they  differ  at  the  same  time  in  the  following  points : 

(1.)  The  one  is  an  essentially  German,  the  other  an 
essentially  English  and  Scotch  plant. 

(2.)  The  former  has  at  least  a  semiofficial  character, 
and  looked  at  first  to  a  confederation  of  the  churches  of 
the  Reformation,  which  the  latter  never  contemplated. 

(3.)  The  Kirchentag  is  an  association  simply  of  four 
denominations,  Lutheran,  German  Reformed,  United, 


THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET.  211 

and  Moravian,  although  it  receives  delegates  also  from 
foreign  evangelical  bodies ;  while  the  Alliance  at  its  first 
meeting,  was  composed  of  representatives  of  about  fifty 
denominations,  among  which  the  Scotch  Presbyterians 
and  the  English  Baptists  seem  to  have  had  thus  far  the 
controlling  influence. 

(4.)  The  Kirchentag  never  pretended  to  make  a  new 
creed,  but  took  for  its  doctrinal  basis  the  Bible  and  the 
original  Confessions  of  evangelical  Protestantism  from 
the  period  of  the  Reformation ;  while  the  Alliance  issued 
a  new  symbol  in  1846,  consisting  of  nine  short  articles, 
which  express  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Protestant 
ism,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  exclude  none  of  the  leading 
Protestant  sects  except  Universalists,  Unitarians,  and 
Quakers. 

(5.)  The  Kirchentag  aims  at  an  internal  regeneration 
of  Protestantism  over  against  infidelity  and  vice  within 
its  own  borders ;  while  the  Alliance  had  from  the  begin 
ning  a  special  reference  to  the  foreign  foe,  and  intended 
to  erect  a  bulwark  against  the  progress  of  Romanism 
and  Puseyisrn. 

(6.)  The  Kirchentag  is  more  extensive  and  practical 
in  its  operation,  as  it  embraces  all  the  important  ques 
tions  of  the  time  and  the  whole  field  of  Inner  Mission ; 
while  the  Alliance  confined  itself  so  far  mainly  to  the 
preparation  of  reports  on  the  condition  of  the  various 
churches  of  Christendom,  and  to  the  promotion  of  reli 
gious  liberty  throughout  the  world,  in  opposition  to  the 
intolerant  and  persecuting  spirit  of  Rome. 

The  relation  of  the  Church  Diet  to  the  Evangelical 
Union,  will  appear,  from  what  has  been  said  already. 


212       THE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  DIET. 

While  it  is  no  amalgamation  of  churches  and  creeds, 
and  has  neither  the  official  authority,  nor  the  benefits  of 
an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  it  is  far  more  homogene 
ous  and  thoroughly  evangelical  in  its  composition,  free 
in  its  character  and  mode  of  operation,  and  has  a  purely 
religious  origin  and  history.  It  was  not  made,  but  it 
grew ;  it  is  not  the  project  of  a  temporal  prince,  a  mea 
sure  of  the  state-church  authorities,  as  the  Union,  but 
it  took  its  rise  in  the  heart  of  the  church  itself,  at  a 
time  of  a  general  upheaving  of  the  very  foundations  of 
society,  and  was  carried  on  and  sustained  so  far  without 
any  assistance  of  the  temporal  arm,  by  the  free  sponta 
neous  cooperation  of  the  most  vital  forces  of  German 
Christendom. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


HISTORY   AND    RESULTS    OF   THE    CHURCH    DIET. 

The  Eight  Meetings  of  the  Kirch  en  tag— Mode  and  Character  of  the  Pro 
ceedings—The  Church  Diet  of  Berlin,  and  the  solemn  Adoption  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession— Merle  d'Aubigne's  Remarks  in  behalf  of  the  Re 
formed  Church — The  Kirchentag  of  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  and  its  prin 
cipal  Reports — Fraternal  Correspondence  with  the  German  Churches  of 

America — The  Kirchentag  of  Lubeck — Prospects  of  the  Church  Diet Its 

general  Results  and  happy  Influence— The  Work  of  Inner  Mission  and 
Dr.  Wichern. 

SINCE  1848,  the  Kirchentag  met  every  year  in  Sep 
tember,  with  the  exception  of  1855,  when  it  would  have 
assembled  at  Halle,  according  to  appointment,  had  it 
not  been  providentially  prevented  by  the  sudden  appear 
ance  of  the  cholera  in  that  city.  The  following  is  a  list 
of  the  places  of  meeting,  with  the  number  of  regular 
attendants,  exclusive  of  the  large  crowd  of  spectators  : 

1.  Wittenberg,      a.  1848,        members  about       500 

2.  Wittenberg,  1849,  «  «  700 

3.  Stuttgart,  1850,  "  "         2000 

4.  Elberfeld,  1851,  «  «         1800 

5.  Bremen,  1852,  «  «         1400 

6.  Berlin,  1853,  "  «         2000 

7.  Frankfort-on-the- 

Maine,       1854,      "     "    1800 

8.  Lubeck,       1856,      "     "    400 


214  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

The  next  Kirchentag  is  to  take  place,  on  urgent  in 
vitation,  at  Stuttgart  in  1857  or  1858,  as  the  central 
committee  may  decide.  The  fluctuation  in  attendance 
is  owing  mostly  to  the  local  situation  of  the  respective 
places.  The  small  number  of  regular  members  at  LU- 
beck,  for  instance,  can  easily  be  accounted  for,  partly 
by  the  extreme  Northern  location  of  this  city,  and 
partly  by  the  raging  of  the  cholera  in  it  a  short  time 
before  the  meeting  took  place.  We  are  confident,  that 
should  Providence  not  prevent  the  proposed  assembly  at 
Stuttgart,  the  large  Stifts-Kirche  will  be  crowded  to 
overflowing,  and  the  members  will  be  as  hospitably  and 
affectionately  entertained  as  they  were  in  1850. 

As  to  the  general  nature  of  these  meetings,  they  have 
far  less  of  a  business  character,  but  are  much  more  in 
structive  and  edifying  than  our  synodical  assemblies. 
They  are  exclusively  occupied  with  spiritual  affairs,  and 
have  nothing  to  do  with  money  matters  and  cases  of 
discipline,  which  unavoidably  take  up  so  much  time  in 
our  self-governing  legislative  Church-councils.  The 
Kirchentag  lasts  four  days,  two  of  which  are  devoted  to 
the  congress  of  Inner  Mission,  of  which  we  shall  say 
more  hereafter.  Dr.  von  Bethmann  Hollweg  and  Prof. 
Stahl,  two  learned  and  pious  jurists  and  statesmen,  were 
annually  re-elected  Presidents,  except  at  Frankfort, 
where  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hoffman  took  the  place  of  the  ab 
sent  Stahl.  The  business  of  the  Kirchentag  during  the 
year  is  managed  by  the  select  central  committee,  the 
leading  members  of  which,  von  Bethmann  Hollweg, 
Stahl,  Nitzsch,  Hengstenberg,  Snethlage,  Hoffman,  von 
Miihler,  Jordan,  reside  in  Berlin.  They  select  the 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  215 

principal  topics  for  discussion,  and  the  speakers  or  re 
porters  six  months  before  the  meeting,  so  as  to  give 
them  full  time  for  careful  preparation.  At  the  day  and 
hour  appointed  these  speakers  read  their  papers  on  the 
subjects  assigned  them.  Then  follows  a  free  discussion, 
and  if  necessary  a  resolution  for  the  adoption  of  mea 
sures  proposed  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  object  in 
view.  Owing  to  the  great  number  of  speakers,  they 
must  generally  be  limited  to  five  or  ten  minutes.  Some 
leading  members,  as  Wichern,  Krummacher,  Sander, 
Stahl,  Nitzsch,  Kapff,  speak  often ;  others,  as  Hun- 
deshagen,  Ullmann,  Rothe,  Baihr,  prefer  to  sit  silent. 
There  is  also  room  given,  for  short  addresses,  to  the 
delegates  from  foreign  churches  and  religious  societies. 
The  official  minutes  contain  the  reports  in  full,  and  an 
abstract  of  the  debates  and  proceedings.  We  need  not 
add,  that  devotional  exercises  open  and  close  each  ses 
sion,  and  that  most,  if  not  all,  the  pulpits  of  the  place 
of  meeting,  are  filled  by  distinguished  orators  every 
evening  and  during  the  intervening  Sunday. 

Besides  the  general  sessions,  a  number  of  separate 
sessions  are  held  early  in  the  morning  and  late  in  the 
evening  for  particular  objects  connected  with  the  Kirch- 
entag,  as  the  promotion  of  the  better  observance  of 
Sunday,  the  reform  of  prisoners  and  prison-discipline, 
the  establishment  of  houses  of  refuge,  the  cultivation  of 
religious  art,  etc. 

Finally,  the  Kirchentag  has  become  the  nucleus  and 
occasion  for  the  meetings  of  the  Reformed  Conference, 
of  the  Missionary,  Bible,  Tract,  and  other  benevolent 
Societies,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  most  anxious 


216  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

and  persevering  visitor  to  attend  more  than  one-third  of 
these  gatherings.  The  excitement  and  commotion  is  so 
great,  that  it  would  be  better  to  extend  the  Diet  over 
one  or  two  weeks,  instead  of  condensing  such  a  large 
amount  of  religious  life  and  social  enjoyment  into  the 
short  space  of  four  days. 

It  would  lead  us  far  beyond  our  proposed  limits  to 
give  a  detailed  account  of  all  the  meetings  of  the  Kirch- 
entag  from  the  first  held  at  Wittenberg  to  that  of  Lu- 
beck.  We  must  confine  ourselves  to  the  principal  topics 
of  interest  in  the  last  three  meetings. 

The  Church  Diet  of  Berlin,  in  1853,  was  the  most 
important  of  all  in  a  doctrinal  point  of  view.  For  it 
solemnly  and  almost  unanimously  adopted  the  Augsburg 
Confession  of  1530,  as  the  fundamental  symbol  (Grrund- 
SymboT)  of  the  entire  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany 
in  all  its  branches,  with  the  distinct  understanding,  how 
ever,  that  the  tenth  article  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  should 
not  exclude  the  Reformed  doctrine  on  the  subject,  and 
that  this  whole  act  should  not  interfere  at  all  with  the 
peculiar  position  of  those  Reformed  Churches  which 
never  adopted  the  Augsburg  Confession.  The  measure 
was  supported  by  Sartorius  and  Stahl,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lutheran,  by  Krummacher,  in  the  name  of  the  Re 
formed,  and  by  Nitzsch,  in  the  name  of  the  United 
Church.  After  a  very  interesting  discussion,  which  oc 
cupied  the  whole  of  the  20th  of  September,  the  two 
thousand  members  who  filled  the  garrison  church  of  the 
Prussian  capital,  signified  almost  with  one  heart  and  one 
mouth,  their  assent  to  the  most  venerable  and  most 
catholic  Confession  of  German  Protestantism,  and  then 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  217 

burst  out  in  the  German  Te  Deum,  "Nun  danket  alle 
G-ott."  The  joyful  news  of  the  decision  was  carried 
with  the  greatest  haste  to  the  king,  who  received  it  with 
every  expression  of  delight,  and  was  hailed  with  enthu 
siasm  by  the  pious  Protestants  throughout  Germany, 
while  the  Roman  Catholics  were  disagreeably  surprised 
by  this  unexpected  testimony  of  doctrinal  unity  and 
strength  among  their  opponents.  This  act  of  confes 
sion,  coming  from  such  a  vast  assembly,  including  the 
most  respected  and  influential  men  from  all  parts  of 
Germany,  was  no  doubt  a  powerful  protest  against  Ro 
manism,  and  still  more  against  Rationalism,  and  marks 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  German  Protestantism. 

And  yet  while  we  concede  the  great  importance  of 
this  fact  for  Germany  and   for  Lutheranism,  we  are  not 
in  the  least  surprised  that  some  Reformed  members  pre 
sent,  as  the  late  Dr.  Henry,  the  author  of  the  Life  of 
Calvin,  Professor  Heppe,  of  Marburg,  and  Dr.  Merle 
d'Aubigne,  of  the  city  of  Calvin,  were  not  altogether 
satisfied,  and  would  have  greatly  preferred  the  resolu 
tion,  if,  instead  of  simply  guarding  the  Reformed  con 
science  in  reference  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Augus- 
tana,  it  would  have  included  a  formal  recognition  of  the 
Heidelberg   Catechism,  or  the  Helvetic   Confession,  or 
some  other  Reformed  symbol.     Dr.  Merle,  the  author  of 
the  popular  history  of  the  Reformation,  abstained  from 
voting  on  this  subject,  and  in  an  interesting  speech,  after 
bestowing  due  praise  upon  the  Augsburg   Confession, 
made  some  significant  remarks  from  the  stand-point  of 
general   Protestant    Christianity   against    German  and 
Lutheran  sectionalism. 
19 


218  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

"  I  have  no  objection,"  he  said,  "  to  the  Augustana, 
nor  to  the  Lutheran  Church,  which  I  honor  and  love  like 
a  child,  having  learned  much  from  Luther  and  his  asso 
ciates.  But  I  fear  an  excess  in  the  Lutheran  spirit,  and 
can,  therefore,  wish  it  nothing  better  than  an  intimate 
confederation — I  do  not  say  union  which  has  a  peculiar 
technical  sense — with  the  believing,  living  and  more  free 
Reformed  Church.  I  fear  first  the  increase  of  a  tradi 
tional,  ceremonial,  hierarchical  element  in  Luther  an  ism, 
which  may  all  be  found  in  much  greater  perfection  in 
the  Church  of  Rome ;  and  secondly,  an  isolation  from, 
and  condemnation  of  other  children  of  God  who  live  of 
the  same  Word  of  God.  Luther  had  two  hands,  the  one 
with  which  he  turned  off  Zwingli  at  Marburg,  that  was 
his  left  hand ;  and  the  other  with  which  he  signed  the 
Wittenberg  Concordia,  that  was  his  right  hand.  And 
finally,  I  fear  that  Lutheranism  may  withdraw  too  much 
from  practical  life.  Its  passivity  must  be  melted  with 
the  activity  of  the  Reformed  Christians.  Three  great 
colossi  of  mankind  are  now  shaken  to  the  very  base, 
Mohammedanism,  India  and  China ;  and  in  every  case 
Reformed  Christianity  has  a  hand.  The  Reformed  ele 
ment  has  grown  mightily  since  the  Reformation.  A 
mustard  seed  then,  it  is  now  a  large  tree,  spreading  its 
branches  over  the  face  of  the  globe.  The  modern  pro 
gress  of  Christianity  in  Great  Britain  and  North  Amer 
ica  is  especially  astounding.  The  sceptre  of  the  future 
development  of  humanity  lies  in  the  hands  of  the  Re 
formed  Confession.  Now,  my  dear  Lutheran  brethren, 
let  us  rather  unite  under  the  banner  of  our  common 
Head  for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  with  the  inscrip- 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  219 

tion  :  Hoc  signo  vinces  !  As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  1 
would  place  the  Gallicana,  or  the  Helvetica,  or  the  Hei- 
delbergensis,  on  a  par  with  the  Augustana.  But  what 
ever  you  may  do,  let  us  who  are  redeemed  by  the  blood 
of  atonement,  members  of  all  confessions  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  be  one  in  the  Father,  in  the  Son,  and  in  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

The  seventh  Church  Diet,  held  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Maine,  in  1854,  September  22d  to  27th,  derived  special 
importance  from  the  variety  and  fullness  of  its  reports, 
as  well  as  from  the  place  of  meeting  in  the  old  imperial 
city,  in  whose  immediate  neighborhood  (the  Sandhof )  the 
Kirchentag  itself  was  born  six  years  before,  and  in  the 
same  church  of  St.  Paul,  where,  in  1848  and  1849,  the 
famous  Parliament  discussed,  with  the  assembled  learning 
of  German  professors  and  patriots,  the  political  regenera 
tion  and  reorganization  of  Germany  on  the  basis  of  liberty 
and  unity,  and  where,  in  August,  1850,  the  representatives 
from  Europe  and  America  held  the  third  General  Peace 
Congress.  This  building  was  thus  within  a  few  short 
years  the  witness  of  angry  debate  and  of  heavenly  wor 
ship,  of  political  clamor  and  the  eloquence  of  peace  and 
good  will  to  the  Church  and  the  world.  Of  the  sixteen 
hundred  and  sixteen  published  names  of  regular  mem 
bers,  eleven  hundred  and  twenty  were  theologians  and 
ministers,  and  four  hundred  and  ninety-six  laymen,  of 
all  ranks  of  society,  and  from  all  parts  of  Germany  and 
foreign  countries.  A  dense  crowd  of  spectators  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen  filled  the  galleries  at  every  session.  The 
evening  sermons  which  were  preached  in  the  different 
churches  of  the  city  by  Krummacher,  Tholuck,  Hoff- 


220  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

mann,  Kapff,  Bahrdt,  Mallet,  Ebrard,  Sander,  Grand- 
pierre,  and  other  distinguished  pulpit  orators,  were  so 
largely  attended,  that  hundreds  had  to  return  home  for 
want  of  room.  This  fact  may  show  what  a  salutary  in 
fluence  this  assembly  may  exert  upon  the  place  of  its 
meeting,  as  well  as  upon  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
visitors  from  abroad. 

The  first  paper  read  before  the  Frankfort  Church  Diet, 
after  the  introductory  services  and  the  annual  report  of 
the  President,  von  Bethmann  Hollweg,  was  a  most  able, 
pointed  and  stirring  essay  of  about  two  hours  in  length, 
on  the  right  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  church,  the  school 
and  the  family,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  "VY.  Hoffmann,  now 
court  preacher  and  general  superintendent  at  Berlin. 
The  speaker  declared  the  whole  Bible,  from  beginning 
to  end,  (exclusive  of  the  Apocrypha)  to  be  the  Word  of 
God  in  human  form  and  speech,  an  organic  whole,  un 
folding  the  divine  plan  of  redemption,  the  infallible  rule 
of  faith  and  practice,  and  pointed  out  the  ways  and 
means  by  which  a  universal  Bible-custom  (Bibd-sitte) 
and  a  universal  Bible-life  (Bibel-leben)  should  be  intro 
duced  into  all  the  churches,  schools,  and  families  of 
Germany.  He  advised  the  ministers  to  study  the  whole 
Bible,  not  only  from  commentaries,  but  on  the  old  prin 
ciple  of  the  self-interpretation  of  Scripture,  and  on 
their  knees,  so  as  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  the  majesty  and  power  of  the  Word  of  the  living 
God.  Then  their  sermons  will  be  truly  scriptural,  i.  e., 
not  merely  quote  passages  from  the  Bible,  but  unfold  its 
great  ideas  and  realities  of  the  divine  plan  of  redemp 
tion,  bring  near  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  and 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  221 

make  the  Word  of  God  alive  in  the  hearts  of  the  hearers. 
Concerning  the  third  point  he  said,  every  Christian 
household  should  become  an  ecclesiola  in  ecclesia,  a  tem 
ple  of  the  living  God.  There  never  yet  was  a  Bible- 
life,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  in  the  families  of  the 
Church,  except  by  way  of  exception.  Before  the  in 
vention  of  the  art  of  printing,  it  was  impossible ;  the 
Reformation  made  an  attempt  to  introduce  it,  but  could 
not  carry  it  through.  But  now,  when  a  copy  of  the 
Bible  is  in  almost  every  family,  it  can  and  ought  to  be 
fully  realized,  that  it  may  exert  its  sanctifying  influence 
over  all  branches  and  ranks  of  society,  and  make  the 
German  nation  emphatically  the  people  of  God  in  the 
new  dispensation.  Thus  the  Church  would  cease  to  be 
merely  a  Church  of  theologians  and  preachers,  and  be 
come  truly  a  Church  of  the  people.  The  meetings  of 
the  Church  Diet  would  become  free  feasts  of  thanksgiv 
ing  and  praise  to  the  great  Author  of  the  book  of  books. 
Let  us  all  wish  and  pray  that  He  may  kindle  this  Bible- 
life  amongst  us  and  make  it  shine  in  all  its  pentecostal 
glory. — This  address  was  exceedingly  well  received,  and 
ordered  to  be  extensively  circulated,  so  as  to  reach,  if 
possible,  every  minister,  school-master  and  father  of  a 
family. 

The  second  report  by  Dr.  Julius  Miiller,  of  Halle,  as 
sisted  by  Advocate  Thesmar  of  Cologne,  related  to  the 
law  of  divorce,  a  subject  of  great  practical  importance 
for  Germany,  and  wound  up  with  the  resolutions  which 
were  unanimously  adopted :  (1.)  That  the  civil  govern 
ments  of  Protestant  Germany  be  respectfully  requested 
to  reform  the  matrimonial  legislation,  and  to  abolish  all 

19* 


09-9 


HISTORY  AND  RESULTS   OF 


causes  of  divorce  not  sanctioned  by  the  word  of  God. 
(2.)  That  the  Protestant  clergy  decline  to  marry  such 
persons  as  had  been  divorced  on  unscriptural  grounds. 
This  subject  was  subsequently  agitated  in  the  Prussian 
Chambers,  and  the  result  was,  that  some  at  least  of  the 
fourteen,  say  fourteen  reasons  of  divorce  which  the 
Prussian  Landreclit  recognizes  since  Frederick  II.,  were 
abolished.  But  there  is  great  room  for  additional  im 
provement  in  this  direction  all  over  Germany. 

Then  followed  an  interesting  and  animating  discussion 
on  infant  baptism,  introduced  by  an  original  essay  of 
Dr.  Steinmeyer,  of  Bonn,  without  leading,  however,  to 
any  definite  results. 

Dr.  Wichern,  of  the  Kough  House,  near  Hamburg, 
opened  the  Congress  for  Inner  Mission  on  the  third  day, 
in  his  usual  fervent  and  heart-stirring  manner,  with  a 
lengthy,  instructive  and  encouraging  report  on  the  great 
theme  of  his  life.  He  discoursed,  out  of  the  fullness  of 
his  experience  and  enthusiasm,  on  the  training  of  labor 
ers  for  Inner  Mission ;  on  the  propriety  of  forming  evan 
gelical  brotherhoods  and  sisterhoods,  without  the  Ro 
mish  addition  of  vows,  celibacy  and  meritorious  works ; 
on  new  institutions  for  destitute  children ;  on  the  recent 
labors  for  promoting  family  worship,  the  sanctification 
of  Sunday,  for  providing  every  married  couple  with  a 
copy  of  the  Bible  ;  on  the  spiritual  care  of  the  poor,  the 
orphans,  sailors,  emigrants,  mechanics,  and  destitute 
classes  of  society;  on  prison  discipline,  the  temperance 
movement ;  in  fact  on  nearly  every  topic  of  moral  re 
form  and  Christian  charity,  which  now  arrests  the  atten 
tion  of  serious  and  benevolent  men  in  Germany. 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  223 

The  ecclesiastical  care  of  the  poor,  next  occupied  the 
attention,  on  the  basis  of  a  paper  presented  by  superin 
tendent  Lengerich  of  Pomerania. 

Then  came,  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  session,  a  most 
valuable  and  popularly  written  report  of  Prelate  Dr. 
Kapff,  of  Stuttgart,  against  gambling  houses  and  lotte 
ries.  It  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  two  or  three  little 
German  governments  disgrace  themselves  by  tolerating, 
for  filthy  lucre's  sake,  faro-banks  in  fashionable  water 
ing  places,  especially  Baden-Baden,  and  Homburg,  to 
the  temporal  and  moral  ruin  of  hundreds  of  families. 
One  of  the  best  acts  of  the  unfortunate  German  Parlia 
ment  of  Frankfort,  was  the  abolition  of  these  miserable 
establishments  in  January  8th,  1849.  But  with  the 
triumph  of  political  re-action,  they  were  restored,  and 
even  increased  in  number.  The  Electorate  of  Hesse 
sanctioned  in  1853,  or  1854,  four  new  ones  (Neuheim, 
Hofgeismar,  Wilhelmsbad  and  Neundorf ) ;  and  yet  this 
government,  then  under  the  control  of  the  unpopular 
Hassenpflug,  (called  by  his  enemies  Hessenfluch,  also 
Hass  und  Flucli,)  wanted  to  be  pre-eminently  Christian, 
abusing  the  holy  name  of  order  and  of  Christianity  for 
the  promotion  of  political  tyranny  and  bigoted  church- 
ism  !  It  was,  therefore,  highly  proper,  that  the  assem 
bled  piety  of  Germany  should  give  free  utterance  to  the 
indignation  of  all  good  men  against  this  abomination, 
and  this,  too,  at  Frankfort,  which  lies  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  these  gambling-hells.  The  Church  Diet 
unanimously,  and  without  any  discussion,  resolved  upon 
a  petition  to  the  respective  governments  for  the  sup 
pression  of  all  games  of  hazard,  faro-banks  and  lotte- 


224  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

ries,  within  the  limits  of  the  German  confederation. 
The  petition  was  favorably  acted  upon  by  the  Bundestag 
of  Frankfort,  but  the  miserable  little  governments, 
basing  themselves  upon  their  sovereignty,  refused,  thus 
far,  to  abolish  those  nurseries  of  vice  and  misery.  Prus 
sia  alone  promptly  responded  to  the  appeal  of  the  Kir- 
chentag,  and  at  once  suppressed  the  gambling  establish 
ments  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The  last  session  of  the  Frankfort  meeting  was  devoted 
to  the  consideration  of  the  relation  of  the  evangelical 
Churches  of  Germany  to  the  German  Churches  of 
America,  and  the  spiritual  care  of  the  German  emi 
grants.  The  writer  of  this  book,  then  on  a  visit  in 
Europe,  had  been  requested  to  prepare  the  report  on 
this  subject ;  and  spoke  of  the  general  significance  of 
America  for  the  future  development  of  Christianity  and 
civilization  ;  of  the  particular  mission  of  the  German 
evangelical  Churches  in  the  United  States ;  and  finally 
on  the  duty  of  the  mother  Church  in  Europe  toward  her 
daughter  in  America,  with  special  reference  to  the  thou 
sands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  emigrants  who  annu 
ally  flock  to  our  shores,  to  become  either  a  disgrace,  or 
an  honor  to  their  native  country,  and  a  curse,  or  a  bless 
ing  to  their  adopted  home,  according  to  the  moral  and 
religious  character  they  bring  with  them  from  Germany. 
In  the  discussion  which  followed,  and  in  which  Kapff, 
Krummachcr,  Sander,  Kaiser,  Conze,  Grandpierre,  of 
Paris,  Cappadose,  of  the  Hague,  von  Bethmann  Hollwcg, 
and  others,  took  part,  the  kindest  Christian  interest  was 
expressed  in  the  state  and  progress  of  Christianity  in  the 
new  world,  and  a  new  impulse  given  to  the  societies  and 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  225 

efforts  which  have  for  their  object  to  provide  for  the 
spiritual  destitution  of  the  German  emigrants,  and  to 
make  them  good  citizens  and  pious  Christians.  The 
meeting  unanimously  resolved  to  enter  into  fraternal 
correspondence,  and  as  far  as  possible  into  an  exchange 
of  delegates  with  the  German  and  Anglo-German 
Churches  of  America,  and  concluded  with  the  solemn 
singing  of  Zinzendorf 's  beautiful  hymn  on  the  union  of 
all  believers,  alluded  to  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  re 
port,  ("  Lass  uns  so  vereinigt  werden,  Wie  Du  mit  dem 
Vater  bist,"  etc.) 

The  resolution  was  subsequently  carried  out.  The 
officers  of  the  Church  Diet  sent  a  truly  Christian  and 
fraternal  address  written  by  the  president,  Dr.  von 
Bethmann  Hollweg,  to  all  the  American  Churches  of 
German  descent  and  evangelical  profession,  compre 
hended  in  the  plan  of  the  Kirchentag,  namely,  the  Lu 
theran,  German  Reformed,  Evangelical  United,  and 
Moravian.  The  letter  was  responded  to  in  the  same 
spirit.  The  German  Reformed  Church  of  the  United 
States,  at  a  Synodical  meeting  held  at  Chambersburg  in 

1855,  sent  not  only  a  written  reply,  but  also  three  dele 
gates,  two  clergymen,  (Rev.  Dr.  B.  Schneck  and  Rev. 
B.  Bailsman,  of  Pennsylvania,)  and  a  lay-elder  (Mr.  G. 
S.    Griffith,    of    Maryland,)    to   the    Church    Diet    at 
Liibeck.*     This  fact  is  now  recorded  in  history  as  a 

*  I  may  be  permitted  here,  without  impropriety,  to  quote  a  passage 
from  a  very  friendly  private  letter  of  the  President  of  the  Church  Diet, 
Dr.  von  Bethmann  Hollweg  to  me,  dated  from  Rheineck,  Nov.,  14, 

1856,  which  shows  how  kindly  this  delegation  from  America  was  ap 
preciated  by  the  German  brethren : 


226  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS   OF 

delightful  testimony  of  the  communion  of  faith  and  love 
which,  in  spite  of  the  ocean,  still  binds  together  the 
Churches  of  the  German  and  Swiss  Reformation  and 
their  children  and  brethren  in  the  new  world,  whither 
the  star  of  Christ's  kingdom  is  taking  its  way.  Besides 
there  are  important  practical  interests  which  strongly 
recommend  such  a  correspondence.  For  the  German 
Churches  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  should  certainly 
cooperate  in  bringing  the  large  and  increasing  tide  of 
German  emigration  to  America  under  Gospel-influences, 
and  giving  it  such  a  direction  and  shape,  as  to  make  it 
an  honor  to  their  old,  and  a  blessing  to  their  new  home. 
It  is  to  be  desired,  that  the  General  Synod  of  the  Lu 
theran  Church  of  the  United  States,  and  the  German 
Evangelical  Association  of  the  West,  should  imitate  the 
example  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  and  have 
themselves  represented  by  a  personal  delegation  at  the 
next  Kirchentag  of  Stuttgart,  where  it  may  confidently 
expect  a  most  warm-hearted  Christian  welcome. 

The  eighth  Church  Diet,  having  failed  to  meet  at 
Halle  in  1855,  on  account  of  the  sudden  outbreak  of  a 
violent  epidemic,  took  place  in  the  free  city  of  Liibeck, 
in  the  extreme  North  of  Germany,  in  September,  1856. 
For  local  and  other  reasons,  it  was  apprehended  by 

"  "VVenn  der  Lubeckcr  Kirchentag  iibcrhaupt  zu  den  gcsegnetstcn 
gehorte  durch  die  f  iihlbare  Niihe  des  Herrn,  seine  gute  Hand  in  alien 
Verhandlungen,  und  den  Geist  der  Eintracht,  des  Friedens,  der  Liebe 
und  Kraft,  der  sic  durchwehte,  so  gehorte  zu  seincm  schonsten 
Schmuck,  zu  den  schonsten  Gaben,  die  der  Herr  ihm  verlich,  die 
Gcgenwart  der  Abgeordneten  aus  Hirer  Kirchengemeinschaft  und  die 
hcrzliclie  Weise,  wie  ihr  Sprecher,  Herr  Dr.  Schneck,  der  vaterliindis- 
chen  Kirche  die  Bruderhand  reichte." 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  227 

many,  that  this  meeting  would  prove  a  failure,  especial 
ly  since  it  was  known  that  the  cholera  had  raged  there 
during  the  summer.  But  this  fear  was  not  realized. 
The  attendance,  it  is  true,  was  much  smaller  than  at  any 
previous  meeting,  especially  from  the  central,  western 
and  southern  regions  of  Germany.  Still  it  was  a  res 
pectable  and  imposing  assembly  of  about  four  hundred 
clergymen  and  pious  laymen.  Several  foreign  countries 
and  churches  also,  as  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland,  the  Reformed  Churches 
of  Holland  and  France,  besides  various  benevolent  soci 
eties  were  worthily  represented.  The  three  delegates 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church  of  America  were  all 
on  the  spot,  and  express  themselves  in  their  official  and 
private  reports  highly  delighted  with  all  the  proceedings, 
as  well  as  with  their  personal  reception.  Concord  and 
harmony  reigned  from  beginning  to  end.  The  distract 
ing  church  question,  which  agitates  at  present  the  Prus 
sian  establishment  to  its  very  centre,  and  on  which  even 
the  presiding  officers  of  the  Kirchentag  are  by  no  means 
entirely  agreed,  was  fortunately  not  permitted  to  disturb 
the  truly  Christian  tone  and  feeling,  or  to  overshadow 
the  essential  agreement  in  all  the  fundamental  articles 
of  the  Christian  faith.  The  subjects,  although  not  of 
such  absorbing  interest,  as  on  former  occasions,  were 
judiciously  selected  and  ably  discussed. 

The  first  topic  related  to  the  revival  of  evangelical 
Church-discipline,  and  was  opened  by  a  veteran  divine, 
Dr.  Sack,  formerly  professor  at  Bonn,  now  Consistorial- 
rath  at  Magdeburg,  a  son  of  the  former  Reformed  court- 
preacher  at  Berlin,  who  was  one  of  the  chief  promoters 
of  the  Union  in  Prussia  in  1817. 


228  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS   OF 

Discipline,  we  arc  sorry  to  say,  has  almost  entirely 
ceased  in  Germany,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  ever 
can  be  properly  exercised,  as  long  as  the  Church  remains 
so  intimately  interwoven  with  the  State,  and  as  long  as 
the  sick  and  dead  members  so  far  outnumber  the  living 
Christians.  The  State-Church  system  drills  every  body 
mechanically  into  the  Church,  but  permits  them  after 
wards  to  believe  and  profess  and  act  as  they  please. 
The  State  cares  only  for  the  outward  appearance  and 
the  legal  aspect  of  the  case,  but  cannot  produce  an  in 
ward  change,  and  the  church,  which  is  the  proper  moral 
and  religious  agent,  is  constantly  cramped  in  its  free 
action  by  the  secular  government,  and  not  unfrequently 
paralyzed  by  the  bad  example  of  the  head  of  the  State, 
who  is  at  the  same  time  the  summus  episcopus  of  the 
Church.  In  Wurtemberg,  for  instance,  excommunica 
tion  for  adultery  sake,  would  have  to  commence  with  the 
King,  who  is  generally  known  to  be  habitually  addicted 
to  that  grievous  sin. 

On  the  second  day,  Dr.  Schmieder,  the  successor  of 
the  venerable  Dr.  Heubner,  as  head  of  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Wittenberg,  read  a  lengthy  address  on  the 
call  to  the  ministry.  Our  German  brethren  complain 
both  of  the  want  of  efficient,  and  an  excess  of  indiffer 
ent  ministers.  Many  study  for  the  sacred  office  merely 
from  utilitarian  and  mercenary  motives,  to  the  injury  of 
the  church  and  themselves,  while  many,  who  have  the 
proper  spirit,  refuse  to  obey  the  internal  call,  to  the 
loss  of  religion.  The  clergy  proceed  almost  exclusively 
from  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  Count  Zinzendorf 
still  remains  almost  a  solitary  example  of  a  missionary 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  229 

nobleman.  The  cause  of  this  evil  was  found  in  the  pre 
valence  of  materialism  among  the  higher  classes,  the 
love  of  gain,  and  an  aversion  to  the  solemn  duties  of 
the  ministry.  But  another  cause  should  have  been  found 
in  the  close  union  of  church  and  state  as  it  exists  in  Ger 
many.  The  excellent  pastor  Meyer,  of  Paris,  remark 
ed,  that  there  were  at  present  twenty-three  vacant  par 
ishes  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  France  ;  that  they  had 
the  son  of  a  wealthy  banker  who  served  as  a  faithful 
village-pastor ;  and  that  they  had  many  excellent  min 
isters,  who  were  the  children  of  street-sweepers.  "If 
they  only  come,"  he  said,  "we  care  not  whether  they 
come  from  above  or  below.  Yes,  let  them  come  from 
above,  far  above,  from  the  Lord  and  Head  of  the  Church." 

The  third  topic  of  discussion  was  the  question,  How 
shall  the  Church  oppose  the  influence  of  materialism  in 
modern  natural  science  upon  the  masses  ?  Dr.  Fabri, 
the  author  of  the  "  Brief 'e  gegen  den  Mater  ialismus" 
1856,  one  of  the  very  best  refutations  of  this  latest  form 
of  infidelity,  had  been  very  properly  selected  for  the 
leading  report,  and  seems  to  have  done  full  justice  to 
his  theme. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that,  after  a  temporary  stagna 
tion  of  philosophical  speculation  in  Germany,  a  crude 
materialism  should  suddenly  spring  up,  proclaiming  in 
the  name  of  the  natural  sciences,  the  irreconcilable  con 
tradiction  of  geology  and  astronomy  with  the  Bible, 
and  flatly  denying  the  very  existence  of  an  immortal 
spirit  in  man.  This  seems  to  be  the  opposite  extreme 
to  the  transcendental  idealism  which  formerly  pre 
vailed,  and  yet  there  is  a  connecting  link  between  the 
20 


230  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

two  in  such  books  as  Feuerbach's  Wesen  des  Christen- 
thums.  But  to  the  credit  of  Germany,  it  must  be  said, 
that  quite  a  number  of  works,  both  scientific  and  popu 
lar,  have  already  appeared  against  this  pseudo-philoso 
phy  of  a  Vogt,  Moleschot,  Burmeister,  Biichner  and 
other  infidel  naturalists  of  the  day. 

Fabri  takes  the  ground,  that  materialism  is  no  philo 
sophy  at  all ;  that  it  must  logically  end  in  nihilism ;  that 
it  must  be  met,  not  with  governmental  coercion,  but  with 
the  weapons  of  reason ;  that  theology  and  natural 
science  do  not  necessarily  contradict  each  other,  but  can 
be  harmonized  without  torturing  any  of  their  principles 
or  data.  Dr.  Stahl,  in  the  discussion,  denied  that  ma 
terialism  was  a  product  of  Protestantism,  as  it  existed 
under  the  papacy  long  before  the  reformation.  Much 
as  he  respected  and  admired  the  investigations  of  science 
in  the  sphere  of  nature,  he  regarded  it  as  transcending 
its  reasonable  limits,  when  it  presumed  to  define  and  ex 
plain  the  domain  of  spiritual  and  eternal  truth.  It  can 
discover  planets,  but  it  cannot  tell  us  whether  they  are 
inhabited.  It  can  invent  the  telegraph,  but  it  cannot 
explain  the  essence  of  electricity,  much  less  the  hidden 
mysteries  of  God. 

The  last  days,  as  usual,  were  devoted  to  the  discus 
sion  of  the  various  benevolent  operations  of  the  Congress 
for  Inner  Mission.  Here  the  most  important  and  inter 
esting  part  was  an  address  of  Dr.  Wichern,  nearly  three 
hours  in  length,  on  the  sphere  of  woman  in  the  evangel 
ical  Church,  where  the  distinguished  Christian  philan 
thropist  gave  a  graphic  picture  of  the  present  position, 
trials,  claims  and  duties  of  woman. 


THE  CHURCH  DIET. 

As  already  remarked,  the  next  meeting  of  the  Kirch- 
entag  is  to  be  held  in  Stuttgart,  either  in  1857  or  1858, 
as  the  central  committee  on  further  deliberation  may 
deem  best. 

We  think  it  likely,  that  the  meeting  will  be  put  off 
till  1858,  for  in  the  autumn  of  1857,  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  will  assemble  for  the  first  time  on  German 
ground,  and  attract  no  doubt  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
Some  of  the  best  friends  of  the  Church  Diet  believe 
that  it  will  sooner  or  later  be  brought  to  a  close  either 
by  the  course  of  events  which  may  supersede  it,  or  by 
the  growing  confessional  strife  and  doctrinal  exclusive- 
ness  which  is  adverse  to  union  and  confederation  of  dif 
ferent  confessions.  Some  of  its  leading  members  and 
founders,  as  Stahl  and  Hengstenberg,  become  more 
high-church  Lutheran  every  year,  and  are  alienated  in 
the  same  proportion  from  their  brethren  who  occupy 
United  or  Reformed  ground.  In  1855,  it  was  appre 
hended  also,  that  the  burning  political  difference  on  the 
Russian  and  Turkish  question  which  divided  the  two 
presidents,  Dr.  von  Bethmann  Hollweg  and  Professor 
Stahl  in  the  Prussian  Chambers,  might  seriously  over 
cloud  or  break  up  the  proposed  meeting  at  Halle,  which, 
however,  was  providentially  prevented.  The  Eastern 
war  is  now  concluded,  and  with  it  the  bitter  political 
controversy  to  which  it  gave  rise.  But  the  general  dif 
ference  between  the  monarchical  absolutism  of  the  high- 
church  Lutherans,  and  the  constitutional  liberalism  of 
the  Reformed  and  the  moderate  Unionists  still  exists, 
and  the  controversy  about  ecclesiastical  union  or  dis 
union  rages  more  fiercely  than  ever  in  Northern  Ger 
many,  especially  in  Prussia. 


232  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

But  no  one  can  tell  what  may  take  place  in  the  short 
space  of  one  year.  Events  may  happen  in  Germany, 
which  will  show  the  necessity  of  a  closer  union  amongst 
evangelical  Christians  even  more  strongly,  than  the  re 
volutionary  storms  of  1848,  which  gave  rise  to  the 
Church  Diet.  Besides,  this  has  a  host  of  friends,  who 
will  do  all  they  can  to  keep  it  up.  In  Wurtcmberg  es 
pecially,  which  has  stood  aloof  so  far  from  the  confes 
sional  war,  the  Church  Diet  is  universally  popular  among 
the  pious  of  the  laity,  as  well  as  of  the  clergy,  and  the 
proposed  meeting  at  Stuttgart,  though  it  should  be  the 
last,  will  be  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic,  a  worthy  end 
of  a  worthy  beginning. 

But  whatever  be  the  final  fate  of  this  assembly,  it  has 
already  a  glorious  history  of  nine  years,  and  forms  one 
of  the  most  interesting  and  edifying  chapters  in  the  an 
nals  of  Protestantism. 

This  leads  us  to  sum  up,  in  conclusion,  the  benefits 
and  results  of  the  Church  Diet. 

As  regards  the  official  and  authoritative  confederation 
of  all  the  Protestant  State-Churches  of  Germany,  which 
the  Diet  proposed  at  its  first  meeting  in  Wittenberg,  as 
a  safeguard  against  the  fearful  dangers  and  evils  of  that 
particular  time,  we  must  say,  that  this  object  has  not 
been  attained,  and  was  almost  entirely  lost  sight  of  in 
its  subsequent  meetings.  The  sudden  change  in  the 
political  condition  of  Germany,  the  defeat  of  the  revo 
lutionists  and  anarchists,  and  the  restoration  of  the  old 
order  of  things,  are  the  immediate  causes  of  this  failure. 
But  the  idea  of  one  evangelical  Church  of  Germany  still 
lives,  and  may  perhaps  be  realized  better  in  the  end  on 
the  ruins,  than  on  the  basis  of  the  existing  rotten  cstab- 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  233 

lishments.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  may  be  ques 
tioned,  whether  such  an  official  confederation  of  churches 
is  at  all  desirable,  and  whether  the  mission  of  Protest 
antism,  for  the  present  at  least,  lies  not  rather  in  the 
direction  of  a  free,  voluntary  association  of  Christians 
in  their  individual  capacity,  preparatory  to  a  compre 
hensive  church-union.  At  all  events,  the  past  and  pre 
sent  power  of  the  Church  Diet  rests  on  the  principle  of 
free  association  and  communion,  while  by  passing  over 
into  an  official  body,  it  would  have  become  inevitably 
connected  with  all  the  evils  of  state-churchism. 

In  some  sense,  however,  the  desired  confederation  may 
be  said  to  exist  in  a  body  distinct  from  the  Kirchentag, 
but  called  into  existence  by  its  influence.  We  mean  the 
Conference  of  Eisenach,  which  consists  of  a  small  num 
ber  of  official  delegates  from  the  various  church  govern 
ments  of  Protestant  Germany,  and  meets,  since  1852, 
annually  or  bi-annually,  as  circumstances  may  require, 
at  Eisenach,  for  consultation  on  subjects  and  measures 
of  common  interest  to  all.  But  its  deliberations  are 
private,  and  subject  to  the  final  sanction  or  rejection  of 
the  respective  authorities.  The  most  important  work  of 
this  Conference,  so  far,  is  the  preparation  and  publica 
tion  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  standard  hymns,  with  their 
melodies,  for  public  worship,  which  should  form  the 
nucleus  of  the  hymn-books  of  the  different  Churches, 
and  thus  promote  unity  in  the  place  of  the  endless  con 
fusion  produced  by  the  arbitrary  alterations  of  hymns 
and  chorals. 

In  the  meantime  the  Church  Diet  has  accomplished, 
in  a  free  form  and  altogether  independent  of  State-con- 

20* 


234  HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

trol,  much  more  than  an  official  State-Church  Confedera 
tion,  in  all  probability,  could  have  done  under  similar 
circumstances. 

Deprived  of  legislative  authority  and  even  pecuniary 
means,  the  Kirchentag  has  all  the  moral  power  of  faith 
and  truth  speaking  in  love,  of  remonstrance  with  the 
authorities  and  of  appeal  to  the  people  at  large.  It 
exerted  a  most  salutary  influence  upon  the  cities  and 
neighborhoods  in  which  it  met.  It  travelled  like  a 
living  evangelist  to  the  centres  of  leading  influence  in 
Germany.  It  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  the  course  of 
evangelical  piety  and  active  Christianity  all  over  the 
land.  It  discussed  topics  and  started  measures  of  the 
greatest  theoretical  and  practical  moment.  Several  of 
these  were  already  mentioned  above.  To  them  must 
be  added,  from  previous  meetings,  the  discussions  on 
Christian  education,  the  relation  of  Church  and  State, 
the  political  duties  of  ministers,  the  sanctification  of 
Sunday,  the  reform  of  worship,  the  introduction  of  a 
common  hymn-book  for  all  Germany,  the  relation  of 
voluntary  societies  to  the  ministerial  office,  the  Romish 
question,  the  treatment  of  dissenters,  the  spiritual  care 
of  the  poor,  the  emigrants,  the  prisoners,  the  travelling 
journeymen,  etc.  It  interceded  in  behalf  of  the  perse 
cuted  Madiai  at  Florence,  in  connection  with  English 
and  French  Protestants,  and  protested  against  several 
crying  abuses  in  certain  countries  and  churches  of  Ger 
many.  It  has  become  a  nucleus  for  a  large  number 
of  benevolent  and  reformatory  societies  which  cluster 
around  it.  It  has  promoted  the  cause  of  Christian 
union,  not  only  at  home,  but  also  abroad,  by  receiving 


THE  CHURCH  DIET.  235 

delegates  from,  and  forming  connections  with  the  Pro 
testant  Churches  of  France,  Holland,  Belgium,  Scotland, 
Geneva,  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  the  British  Evangelical 
Alliance,  the  American  Tract  Society,  and  the  German 
Churches  of  America. 

But  one  work  must  be  mentioned  with  special  praise, 
which  may  be  called  the  adopted  child  of  the  Kirchentag, 
and  has  been  most  fruitful  and  blessed  in  immediate 
results.  We  mean  the  cause  of  "Inner  Mission,"  to 
which  it  devotes  two  days,  or  fully  one  half  of  the  time 
of  its  annual  meetings.  This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
most  important  movements  of  the  age,  and  is  alone  suffi 
cient  to  immortalize  that  assembly  in  the  history  of 
practical  Christianity  and  Christian  philanthropy.  The 
term,  Inner  Mission,  comprehends  much  more  than  what 
we  mean  by  Home  Missions,  or  Domestic  Missions.  It 
aims  at  •<*  relief  of  all  kinds  of  spiritual  and  temporal 
misery  by  works  of  faith  and  charity,  at  a  revival  of 
nominal  Christendom,  and  a  general  reform  of  society 
on  the  basis  of  the  Gospel  and  the  creed  of  the  Reforma 
tion.  It  is  Christian  philanthropy  and  charity  applied 
to  the  various  deep-rooted  evils  of  society,  as  they  were 
brought  to  light  so  fearfully  in  Germany  by  the  revolu 
tionary  outbreaks  of  1848.  It  comprises  the  care  of  the 
poor,  the  sick,  the  captive  and  prisoner,  the  laboring 
classes,  the  travelling  journeymen,  the  emigrants,  the 
temperance  movement,  the  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  a 
better  observance  of  the  Lord's-day,  and  similar  reforms, 
so  greatly  needed  in  the  Churches  of  Europe. 

Dr.  Wichern  is  the  chief  author  and  moving  spirit  of 
this  great  work  in  its  modern  German  form.  For  as  to 


236  UISTORY  AND  RESULTS  OF 

its  essence,  of  course,  it  is  as  old  as  Christian  charity 
itself.  It  was  with  considerable  difficulty,  and  only  after 
a  most  eloquent  speech,  that  he  succeeded  in  urging  it 
upon  the  serious  attention  of  the  Church  Diet  at  its  first 
meeting  in  1848,  and  in  making  it  one  of  its  regular  and 
principal  objects.  The  movement  spread  with  wonderful 
rapidity.  There  is  now  hardly  a  city  in  Protestant  Ger 
many  or  Switzerland,  where  there  is  not  a  "  Society  for 
Inner  Mission,"  or  an  "Evangelical  Association"  for  the 
promotion  of  the  various  works  of  Christian  benevolence. 
"That  which,  in  1848" — says  an  English  philanthro 
pist — "was  a  germ  of  thought  lodged  in  the  mind 
of  one  man,  is  now  a  principle  actuating  human  minds, 
instigating  Christian  endeavors,  and  giving  birth  to 
benevolent  enterprise  in  a  hundred  forms  throughout 
the  fatherland,  and  wherever,  in  Europe,  in  America,  or 
in  Australasia,  Germany  may  find  a  home."  Dr.  Wichern 
presents  a  general  survey  of  the  progress  of  the  work  at 
every  meeting  of  the  Kirchentag,  and  urges  to  renewed 
efforts  with  ever  fresh  vigor  and  with  an  earnestness  and 
enthusiasm  that  is  not  from  this  earth. 

We  cannot  better  conclude  this  article,  than  by  quoting 
the  last  words  of  Wichern's  report  at  the  Church  Diet 
of  Frankfort.  "The  Inner  Mission,"  says  this  great 
and  good  man,  "is  the  work  of  John,  not  the  Baptist, 
but  the  apostle  who  leaned  on  the  bosom  of  the  Lord. 
According  to  the  word  of  this  apostle,  we  should  all 
love  each  other  as  brethren,  who  confess  the  only  saving 
name  of  Christ.  But  in  this  brotherly  love  we  should 
also  burn,  like  John,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  apostate  youth, 
for  the  recovery  of  those  who  are  wandering  on  the  abyss 


THE  CHURCH  DIET. 

of  destruction.  The  love  of  God  sheVi  abroad  in  our 
hearts,  uniting  the  disciples  into  one  body,  going  forth 
like  a  burning  light  into  the  world,  and  rnn^Tttmg  tfob 
dreary  deserts  round  about  us  into  a  paradise  of  God — 
such  Johannean  love  is  the  hope  and  the  strength  of 
Inner  Mission.  May  God  bless  this  work,  in  midst  of 
envy  and  strife,  for  the  establishment  of  peace." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THEOLOGICAL    SCHOOLS   AND    CHURCH    PARTIES. 


The  Classical  Period  of  German  Theology — Its  prevailing  spirit — Variety 
of  Schools — The  Age  of  Rationalism  and  Supernatural  ism — Dr.  De  Wet  to 
— The  Age  of  Schleicrmacher  and  Ilpgcl — Division  in  the  Hegelian 
Ranks— The  Tubingen  School. 

GERMANY  may  boast  of  two  classical  periods  of  the 
ology  which  exerted  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  other 
Christian  nations,  the  theology  of  the  Reformation,  and 
the  theology  of  the  present  age.  Between  the  two  lies 
the  orthodox  stagnation  of  the  seventeenth,  and  the 
rationalistic  revolution  of  the  eighteenth  centuries. 
The  theology  of  the  Reformation  was  a  conflict  of  evan 
gelical  faith  with  superstition  and  ecclesiastical  des 
potism  ;  the  theology  of  the  present  age  a  conflict  of 
the  same  faith  with  infidelity  and  intellectual  licentious 
ness.  In  the  first  case,  genius  and  learning  were  con 
centrated  in  a  few  individuals,  especially  Luther  and 
Melanthon,  whose  influence  for  this  reason  was  the 
more  commanding  and  comprehensive,  as  a  tree  which 
rises  on  the  plains,  in  solitary  grandeur,  spreads  the 
longest  branches  and  casts  the  widest  shade ;  in  the 
second  case,  the  intellectual  powers  are  divided  among 
a  larger  number  and  greater  variety  of  minds. 


THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCH  PARTIES.      239 

No  country  and  no  age  has  produced,  within  so  short  a 
time,  so  many  eminent  commentators,  church  historians, 
and  speculative  divines  as  Germany  did  during  the  first 
half  of  the  present  century.  Some  of  them  have  died 
within  our  recollection,  as  Schleiermacher,  in  1834; 
Olshausen,  in  1839;  Marheineke,  in  1847;  De  Wette, 
in  1849;  Neander,  in  1850;  Honing,  in  1853;  Gieseler, 
in  1854;  Luckc,  in  1855.  But  many  of  the  veteran 
leaders  are  still  on  the  field  of  action,  and  train  a  new 
generation  of  ministers  and  divines,  less  brilliant  in 
talent  and  learning  than  they,  but  animated  for  the 
greater  part  by  a  decidedly  Christian  spirit,  and  having 
the  advantage  of  starting  with  the  results  of  a  successful 
conflict  with  infidelity  in  its  most  dangerous  forms. 

Germany  sent  forth  some  of  the  worst  infidel  wrorks 
of  all  times,  and  wre  are  far  from  the  hope  that  the 
triumph  over  false  theology  and  philosophy  is  com 
pleted.  Though  beaten  in  scientific  circles,  rationalism, 
pantheism  and  atheism  still  extensively  obtain  in  popular 
and  practical  forms,  among  the  higher  and  lower  classes 
of  that  country,  as  any  American  may  infer  from  a  large 
portion  of  the  German  immigrants,  and  their  newspaper 
organs  in  our  large  cities.  Bat  to  represent  Baur, 
Strauss,  and  Feuerbach,  as  the  true  types  and  exponents 
of  German  theology,  as  was  done  recently  in  a  series  of 
articles  in  one  of  our  leading  religious  journals,  on  the 
authority  mainly  of  an  infidel  partisan  book  of  Schwarz, 
is  simply  a  caricature,  and  not  less  unfair  and  unjust,  as 
if  a  German  would  hold  up  to  his  countrymen  a  Chan- 
ning,  Parker,  and  Emerson,  as  the  genuine  representa 
tives  of  American  theology  and  religion. 


240  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

To  classify  the  divines  of  Germany  is  no  easy  task. 
As  political  freedom  cannot  exist  without  parties,  which 
may  be  compared  to  the  fly-wheels  of  the  machinery,  and 
the  counter-weights  of  the  balance  beam,  so  the  free 
and  vigorous  development  of  philosophy  and  theology 
necessarily  implies  a  variety  of  schools  and  tendencies, 
which  are  related  to  each  other  either  as  antagonistic 
and  antipodal,  or  as  supplementary  and  balancing  forces. 
Frail  as  we  are,  parties  and  schools  will  always  have 
their  severing,  embittering  and  dislocating  effects,  and 
the  noblest  instincts  of  our  nature,  as  well  as  the  tenden 
cies  of  divine  grace,  look,  not  towards  uniformity  indeed, 
but  towards  harmony  and  union  of  tempers  and  views. 
But  such  divine  harmony  can  only  be  the  result  of  the 
freest  and  fullest  development  of  all  the  elements 
included  in  the  idea  of  humanity  under  its  social  and 
religious  aspects. 

Owing  to  the  subjectivity  and  speculative  turn  of  the 
German  mind,  and  its  fertility  in  originating  new  opinions 
and  stand-points,  it  presents,  in  its  theology  and  philoso 
phy,  as  great  a  number  of  schools  as  practical  England 
and  America  exhibit  denominations  and  sects.  We  will 
endeavor  to  lead  the  stranger  through  this  labyrinth  to 
an  elevation  from  which  he  may  survey  the  largest  and 
most  interesting  modern  battle-field  of  theological  theo 
ries  and  systems  of  thought. 

To  avoid  confusion,  we  must  distinguish  three  phases 
in  the  German  theology  of  the  present  century,  the  age 
of  Rationalism  and  Supernaturalism,  the  age  of  Schleier- 
macher  and  Hegel,  and  the  age  of  the  revived  denomi 
national  controversies,  or  the  conflict  of  Unionism  and 


CHURCH   PARTIES.  241 

Confessionalism.  In  the  List  stage  of  development,  the 
theological  schools  coincide  with  the  church  parties 
that  agitate  the  German  state  churches  at  the  present 
time. 

I.  At  the  end  of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  German  theology  was  divided  into  the 
two  hostile  armies  of  Rationalists  and  Supernaturalists. 
The  former  maintained  the  sufficiency  of  natural  reason, 
(ratio,  hence  the  name,)  and  rejected  everything  in  the 
Bible  which  they  could  not  comprehend  with  their  com 
mon  sense.  They  would  not  admit,  with  Shakspeare  and 
the  deeper  minds  of  all  ages,  that  "There  are  more 
things  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  than  were  dreamt  of  in 
their  philosophy."  Gothe,  in  the  second  part  of  Faust, 
characterizes  them  admirably  in  these  lines  : 

Daran  erkenn  'ich  den  gelehrten  Ilerrn : 
Was  ihr  nicht  tastet,  steht  euch  meilenfern ; 
Was  ihr  nicht  fasst,  das  fehlt  euch  ganz  und  gar ; 
Was  ihr  nicht  rechnet,  glaubt  ihr,  sei  nicht  wahr ; 
Was  ihr  nicht  wagt,  hat  fur  euch  kein  Gewicht ; 
Was  ihr  nicht  iniinzt,  das,  meint  ihr,  gelte  nicht. 

(Herein  I  recognize  the  high-learned  man ! 

What  you  have  never  handled,  no  man  can ; 

What  you  can't  grasp,  is  sheer  nonentity; 

What  you  cannot  account  for,  cannot  be; 

What  your  scales  have  not  proved,  can  have  no  weight ; 

What  you've  not  stamped,  can  never  circulate.) 

The  Supernaturalists,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained 

the  necessity  of  a  divine  revelation,  the  inspiration  and 

authority  of  the  Bible,  and  the  fundamental  doctrines 

of  orthodox  Protestantism.     Yet  in  their  philosophical 

21 


2-12  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

views  they  differed  but  slightly  from  their  theological 
antagonists,  who  gradually  gained  the  ascendancy  and 
occupied  for  a  considerable  number  of  years  the  chief 
seats  of  power  and  influence. 

The  leaders  of  nationalism,  properly  so  called,  were 
Paulus  of  Heidelberg,  Wegscheider  and  Gesenius  of 
Halle,  Rohr  of  Weimar,  and  Bretschneider  of  Gotha. 
The  ablest  defenders  of  Supcrnaturalism  of  the  elder 
school  were  Reinhardt  of  Wittenberg,  afterwards  court 
preacher  in  Dresden,  Storr,  Flatt  and  Steudel  of  Tubin 
gen,  and  Knapp  of  Halle. 

Between  the  two  extremes  stood  those  who  styled 
themselves  Rational  Supernaturalists,  or  Supernatural- 
istic  Rationalists,  according  to  the  preponderance  of 
the  one  or  the  other  element.  They  may  be  compared 
to  the  moderate  school  of  English  and  American  Unita 
rians. 

The  most  distinguished  champion  of  an  undecided 
medium-position  between  Rationalism  and  Supernatural- 
ism,  was  the  late  Dr.  De  W.ette,  a  man  of  eminent  ability, 
fine  taste,  extensive  learning  and  honorable  character, 
whose  translation  of  the  Bible  is  a  work  of  abiding  merit 
for  scholars.  He  was  constitutionally  a  skeptic,  of  the 
order  of  Thomas,  but  he  never  attained  in  this  life  to  the 
full  conviction  of  the  apostle,  who  exclaimed  at  last  at 
the  feet  of  the  risen  Saviour,  "My  Lord  and  my  God !" 
With  the  understanding  he  denied  the  divinity  of  Christ 
and  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  with  the  heart  he  was 
disposed  to  believe  it.  He  painfully  felt  this  conflict, 
and  gave  it  a  touching  expression  in  the  following  lines 
written  a  short  time  before  his  death : 


CHURCH   PARTIES.  243 

Ich  fiel  in  cine  \virre  Zeit, 
DCS  Glaubens  Einfalt  war  vernichtet. 
Ich  inischte'mich  mit  in  den  Streit ; 
Doch,  ach  I  ich  hab'ihn  nicht  geschlichtet. 

(I  lived  in  times  of  doubt  and  strife, 
When  child-like  faith  was  forced  to  yield. 
I  struggled  to  the  end  of  life, 
Alas  !  I  did  not  gain  the  field.) 

II.  During  this  controversy,  the  theological  schools 
of  Schleiermacher  and  Neander,  and  the  philosophical 
systems  of  Schelling  and  Hegel  arose,  all  striving  to 
rise  superior  to  the  antagonism  of  reason  and  revelation, 
of  faith  and  science,  to  reconcile  the  claims  of  both,  and 
to  point  out  in  different  ways  the  harmony  of  divine  and 
human  truth.  They  kept  the  German  mind  in  a  fer 
ment  of  profound  agitation  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
(1820  to  1848.) 

Of  Schleiermacher  and  Neander  we  had  occasion  to 
speak  already,  and  shall  have  more  to  say  in  the  third 
part  of  this  book.  They  gathered  around  them  the 
noblest  minds  and  led  them  to  the  path  of  evangelical 
faith  and  piety,  while  a  number  of  their  younger  cotem- 
poraries,  as  Tholuck,  Olshausen,  Hengstenberg,  Stier, 
Beck,  Harless,  Guericke,  Rudelbach,  were  only  distantly 
connected  with  them,  and  occupied,  from  the  start,  a 
more  strictly  scriptural  or  churchly  position. 

The  Hegelian  philosophy,  in  its  first  application  to 
theology,  and  in  the  hands  of  a  Daub,  Marheineke,  and 
Goschel,  treated  rationalism  with  the  utmost  contempt, 
and  promised  to  be  a  strong  support  of  Christian  ortho 
doxy.  But  with  the  appearance  of  the  famous  "  Life  of 


244  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

Jesus,"  by  Dr.  Strauss  of  Tubingen,  in  1835,  four  years 
after  the  death  of  Ilegel,  it  broke  asunder  into  two  hos 
tile  branches,  named  after  the  divisions  in  the  French 
Chambers,  the  right  hand  and  the  left  hand,  the  centre 
being  occupied  by  the  deceased  master. 

The  left  wing  represented  theologically,  by  the  so-called 
Tubingen  School  of  Baur,  Strauss,  Zellcr,  Schwegler, 
developed,  in  a  series  of  separate  works,  and  in  a  Quar 
terly  Review,  the  Theologi&che  Jahrbucher,  of  Tubingen, 
the  pantheistic  elements  of  Hegeliariism,  and  applied  them 
to  a  critical  dissection  of  the  history  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles.  According  to  their  view,  the  absolute  cannot 
be  personal, — personality  necessarily  implying  limita 
tion,  and  an  absolute  personality  being  a  contradiction 
in  terms — but  becomes,  or  is  perpetually  becoming  per 
sonal  in  the  endless  series  of  human  beings.  Conse 
quently  Christ  also,  being  an  individual,  cannot  be  the 
bearer  of-  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  although  he  was 
the  first  in  whom  the  essential  or  metaphysical  unity  of 
divinity  and  humanity,  i.  e.  the  entire  human  race,  be 
came  conscious.  Add  to  this  pantheistic  principle  the 
rationalistic  denial  of  the  possibility  of  miracles  as  con 
tradicting  the  divinely  established  order  of  nature,  and 
you  have  the  clew  to  the  understanding  of  the  destruc 
tive  criticism  to  which  all  the  supernatural  facts  of  the 
New  Testament  were  subjected  by  the  TUbingen  School 
of  pseudo-divines. 

In  the  meantime,  the  chief  philosophical  champion  of 
the  left  wing  Hegelianism,  Feuerbach,  carried  this  logico- 
metaphysical  pantheism  into  downright  atheism,  which 
explodes  the  idea  of  God  as  an  objective  existence,  and 


CHURCH   PARTIES.  Z45 

resolves  it  into  a  sort  of  double  vision  and  optical  illusion 
of  the  subjective  mind.  Religion,  therefore,  according 
to  this  infernal  gospel,  is  in  fact  the  relation  of  man  to 
himself  considered  as  another,  the  growth  of  a  morbid 
reflection,  a  grand  hallucination,  and  that  which  man 
worships  as  God,  is  really  his  own  soul  projected  on  the 
outward  screen,  or  his  own  gigantic  shadow. 

We  have  seen,  in  another  place,  how  powerfully  this 
development  of  pantheism  and  hyper-criticism  acted  upon 
the  better  class  of  German  divines,  like  the  dreams  of 
the  ancient  Gnostics  upon  the  early  Fathers,  and  how 
many  able  and  valuable  works  it  called  forth  in  defence 
of  the  historical  basis  of  primitive  Christianity. 

The  political  storms  of  1848  brought  this  second  act 
of  the  drama  of  modern  Teutonic  theology  to  a  close, 
and  the  third  act  commenced,  of  which  we  shall  treat  in 
the  next  chapter. 


21' 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCH  PARTIES, 
CONCLUDED. 


The  Age  of  Unionism  and  Confessionalism — The  Unionists  with  their  three 
Subdivisions,  the  Centre,  the  Right  Wing,  and  the  Left  Wing— The 
Lutherans — The  Reformed. 


III.  FROM  the  revolutions  of  1848,  or  rather  the 
reactions  which  followed  in  rapid  succession,  we  may 
date  the  third  phase  of  German  theology,  in  which  the 
church  question  under  its  theoretical  and  practical 
aspects  occupies  most  attention.  The  conflict  of  faith 
with  unbelief,  of  Christ  with  anti-Christ,  of  theism  with 
deism  and  pantheism,  has  given  way  to  the  controver 
sies  between  Romanism  and  Protestantism,  Luthcranism 
and  Reform,  Unionism  and  Confessionalism.  Many  who 
started  as  enthusiastic  followers  of  Hegel,  like  Goschel, 
Martensen,  Klicfoth  and  Kahnis,  are  now  high  church 
Lutherans ;  and  others  who  formerly  labored  for  the 
union  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches,  as 
Ilcngstenberg,  use  their  influence  for  its  dissolution. 

This  shows  that  German  theology  made  rapid  pro 
gress,  within  the  last  few  years,  in  the  direction  of 
orthodoxy  and  churchlincss.  But  whether  it  has  equally 
advanced  in  freshness,  vigor  and  piety,  is  doubtful. 


CHURCH    PARTIES.  247 

There  was  something  great  and  sublime  in  the  severe, 
but  victorious  struggle  of  Christian  science  against  the 
most  subtle  forms  of  infidelity,  that  reminded  one  of  the 
days  of  the  ancient  apologists  and  church  fathers ;  but 
the  bitter  denominational  strifes,  which  now  fill  the  peri 
odical  press  of  Germany,  especially  in  Prussia,  the  inter 
nal  wars  of  brethren  against  brethren,  who  should  be 
united  against  the  common  foes  of  Romanism  and  infi 
delity,  are  rather  unrefreshing  and  humiliating.  There 
has  been,  however,  during  the  rationalistic  period,  and 
there  is  still  such  a  want  of  discipline  and  so  much 
practical  disregard  of  the  symbolical  books  in  the 
German  State-churches,  that  the  reactionary  zeal  of  a 
stricter  school  can  easily  be  accounted  for.  The  con 
fessional  strifes  of  the  day  may  be  regarded  as  a  neces 
sary  transition  to  a  better  state  of  things. 

If  we  would  classify  the  theological  schools  of  German 
Protestantism,  as  they  now  stand,  we  must  make  the 
denominational  controversies,  especially  the  absorbing 
question  of  Unionism  and  Confessionalism,  of  which  we 
spoke  at  length  in  Chapters  XIX.  and  XX.,  the  prin 
ciple  of  division.  For  the  theological  schools  have, 
since  1848,  descended  from  their  former  speculative 
heights  and  become  identical  with  church  parties,  as  in 
England.  The  Tubingen  School,  although  not  dead 
yet,  is  fast  approaching  its  dissolution,  and  if  infidelity 
is  to  come  up  again,  it  must  likewise  descend  from 
Olympus  to  the  plains,  and  assume  a  more  popular  and 
practical  shape. 

Leaving  out  of  sight  then  the  pantheistic  infidelity 
described  above,  we  may  arrange  the  living  divines  of 


248  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

Germany  under  three  schools  and  parties,  the  Unionists, 
the  exclusive  Lutherans,  and  the  Reformed.  Some  might 
be  tempted  to  draw  a  parallel  between  them  and  the 
high-church,  low-church,  and  broad-church  parties  of 
Anglicanism.  But  the  points  of  difference  far  outnum 
ber  the  points  of  resemblance.  The  most  plausible  com 
parison  would  be  that  between  symbolical  Lutheranism 
and  Puseyism.  But  the  former  is  perfectly  independent 
of  the  latter,  a  genuine  German  growth,  and  differs 
materially  from  it  in  the  question  of  episcopacy,  which 
the  Puseyites  regard  as  the  indispensable  mark  of  the 
church,  and  in  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone, 
which  the  high  Lutherans  maintain  as  the  articulus  stantis 
et  cadentis  ecclesiw. 

1.  The  UNIONISTS,  or  UNIONS-TIIEOLOGEN,  in  the 
general  sense  of  the  term,  agree  in  rejecting  an  exclusive 
confessionalism  or  denominationalism,  and  assert  the 
principle  of  the  fundamental  agreement  and  fraternal 
communion  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches. 
They  arc  by  far  the  most  numerous,  especially  in  Prus 
sia  and  Baden,  and  wherever  the  Union  has  been  intro 
duced.  But  we  must  distinguish  among  them  three 
subdivisions,  which  we  will  arrange  after  the  analogy  of 
political  assemblies. 

(a.)  The  Centre,  i.  e.,  those  who  hold  to  the  consensus 
of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  symbols  as  the  doctrinal 
basis  of  the  Union,  and  defend  at  the  same  time  the 
claims  of  a  free  progressive  theological  science.  Here 
belong  the  orthodox  section  of  the  Schleiermacher-Nean- 
der  School,  and  the  majority  of  distinguished  evangelical 
divines,  especially  in  Prussia,  Baden,  and  Wiirtemberg. 


CHURCH    PARTIES.  249 

We  mention  Nitzsch,  Twesten,  and  Hoffmann,  of  Berlin  ; 
Tholuck,  Miillcr,  Hupfeld,  Moll,  and  Jacobi,  of  Halle ; 
Dorner,  Ehrenfeuchter,  Schoberlein,  and  Kostlin,  of  Got- 
tingen ;  Eleek,  Hasse,  and  Lange,  of  Bonn  ;  Liebner,  of 
Dresden ;  Landerer,  and  Palmer,  of  Tubingen ;  Kurtz,  of 
Dorpat;  Sticr,  of  Skeuditz ;  Baumgarten,  of  Rostock; 
Ullmann,  and  Ba'hr,  of  Carlsruhe ;  Ebrard,  of  Speyer ; 
Herzog,  of  Erlangen;  Umbreit,  Hundeshagen,  Schenkel, 
and  Rothe,  of  Heidelberg.  The  last,  however,  is  an 
altogether  original  genius,  to  whom  may  be  applied, 
what  Cardinal  Cajetanus  said  of  Luther  :  " Hdbet  pro- 
fundos  oculos  et  mir allies  speculations  in  capite  suo." 

The  chief  literary  organs  of  this  school  are  the  "Studien 
und  Kritiken"  a  high-toned  scientific  quarterly,  edited 
since  1828  by  Ullmann  and  Umbreit,  and  containing 
valuable  original  investigations  in  all  departments  of 
theology;  the  "  Protestanticlte  Monatslliitter"  edited  by 
Gelzer,  of  Basel,  and  devoted  to  the  inner  history  of  the 
times,  and  the  defence  of  sound  Protestantism  against 
Ultramontane  Romanism;  the  "  Deutsche  Zeitschrift 
filr  Christliche  Wissenschaft  und  Christliches  Leben,"  a 
solid  and  dignified  weekly  periodical,  founded  by  Neander, 
Nitzsch  and  Miiller,  edited  by  Dr.  Schneider,  at  Berlin, 
and  keeping  the  medium  between  a  theological  review 
and  a  practical  Church  paper;  the  " Allgemeine  Kirclien- 
zeitung"  of  Darmstadt,  established  by  Zimmermann  and 
Bretschneider,  and  once  the  organ  of  deistic  Rationalism, 
but  now  edited  with  more  ability  and  faith,  by  Palmer 
and  Schenkel,  and  defending  weekly  the  cause  of  Evan 
gelical  Protestantism  against  Rationalism  on  the  one 
hand,  and  exclusive  Lutheranism,  and  especially  also 
Romanism  on  the  other. 


250  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

Herzog's  large  Theological  Encyclopedia,  now  in  the 
course  of  publication,  receives  contributions  from  nearly 
all  the  divines  mentioned  under  this  head,  and  may 
therefore  be  regarded  as  a  depository  of  the  positive 
Evangelical  Union-Theology  of  Germany. 

Our  esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Bomberger,  of  Philadelphia, 
is  doing  a  good  service  to  Anglo-American  Theology,  in 
preparing,  with  a  number  of  assistants,  mostly  of  the 
German  Reformed  communion  of  this  country,  a  con 
densed,  yet  faithful  and  reliable  translation  of  this  im 
portant  and  valuable  work. 

(b.)  The  Eight  Wing  of  the  Unionists  embraces  those 
who  still  hold  to  the  governmental  union  and  mutual 
sacramental  communion  (AbendmaMsgemeinseliaft)  of 
the  two  churches  as  proclaimed  by  the  Prussian  declara 
tions  of  1834  and  1852,  and  take  part  in  the  Church 
Diet,  (Stahl  is  one  of  its  presiding  officers,)  but  who 
maintain  within  these  limits  the  right  of  the  Confessions, 
especially  the  Lutheran  symbols.  Inasmuch  as  they 
resolve  the  Union  into  a  mere  confederation  under  one 
ecclesiastical  government,  presided  over  by  the  king,  his 
minister  of  worship,  and  the  Oberkirchenrath,  they  may 
be  styled  Confedcralists,  and  inasmuch  as  they  adhere  to 
the  distinctive  tenets  of  the  Lutheran  creed,  they  are 
also  called  Ne-io  Lutherans.  This  party  stands  in  close 
connection  with  the  political  reaction  which  set  in  since 
1849,  in  opposition  to  the  revolutionary  and  liberal  ten 
dencies  of  the  age,  and  is  at  present  very  influential  in 
Prussia,  being  protected  by  the  minister  of  public  wor 
ship,  Herr  von  Raumer,  and  the  eminent  leaders  of  the 
extreme  conservative  section  in  the  Prussian  Chambers, 
Stahl,  Ludwig  von  Gerlach,  and  others. 


CHURCH   PARTIES.  251 

Among  the  divines,  Sartorius,  of  Konigsberg,  is  the 
mildest,  Hengstenberg,  of  Berlin,  the  most  fearless  and 
vigorous  champion  of  this  Confessional  Lutheran  Union 
ism.  Its  principal  organ  is  the  u  Evangelisclie  Kirclien- 
zeitung"  a  weekly  church  paper,  edited  by  Hengsten 
berg  since  1827.  Some  of  its  strongest  contributors  are 
laymen,  as  Stahl  and  Goschel,  of  Berlin,  and  the  genial, 
but  Romanizing  historian,  Leo,  of  Halle,  who  is  called 
sometimes  the  bulldog  of  Hengstenberg's  Church  Gazette. 

(c.)  The  Left  Wing  is  made  up  of  the  liberal  and  lati- 
tudinarian  Unionists,  who  hold  to  the  Bible  as  the  only 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  but  resist  the  binding  author 
ity  of  symbolical  books  as  another  form  of  Popery 
(papiernes  Papstthum)  incompatible  with  the  principle  of 
Protestant  freedom  and  arresting  the  progress  of  the 
ological  science.  Here  belong  Jonas,  Sydow,  Pischon, 
ministers  at  Berlin,  Eltester,  of  Potsdam,  and  others 
who,  in  the  famous  Protest  of  1845,  broke  for  ever  with 
Hengstenberg's  Gazette,  and  represent  what  may  be 
called  the  Left  or  Radical  Wing  of  the  School  of 
Schleiermacher.  They  adhere  more  to  the  letter,  than 
to  the  spirit  of  this  great  divine,  and  refuse  to  proceed 
beyond  his  general  position  in  that  more  orthodox  path, 
which  he  himself  had  opened,  and  which  Twesten,  Nitzsch 
and  Miiller  have  followed  out.  They  are,  like  their  ad 
mired  master,  liberal  in  politics,  and  cherish  a  bitter 
feeling  of  hostility  to  the  reactionary  and  high  toned 
monarchical  tendencies  which  now  rule  the  highest  coun 
sels  of  Prussia.  Some  of  them,  as  Krause,  venture  occa 
sionally  upon  the  defence  of  an  entire  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  and  absolute  freedom  of  worship,  after 


252  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

the  American  model,  while  others  wait  patiently  for  the 
death  of  the  present  king,  hoping  that  the  Prince  of  Prus 
sia  or  his  son  will  pursue  a  more  liberal  policy,  and  call 
them  to  the  seats  of  power.  One  of  their  political  friends, 
Count  Schwerin,  Schleiermacher's  son-in-law,  and  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  respectable  leaders  of  the  liberal 
party  in  the  Prussian  Chambers,  occupied  in  the  revolu 
tionary  year  1848,  the  important  post  of  minister  of 
public  worship,  but  was  soon  removed  by  the  reaction. 

The  chief  organ  of  this  party  is  thje  "  Protestantische 
Kirclienzeitung  fur  das  evangeliscJie  Deutscldand" 
(since  1854,)  ably  edited  by  Krause,  of  Berlin,  in  con 
nection  with  Eltester,  Jonas,  Sydow,  of  Prussia,  and  a 
number  of  preachers  and  divines  from  other  German 
States,  as  Hase,  Schwarz,  Riickert,  and  Hilgenfeld,  of 
Jena,  Dittcnberger,  of  Weimar,  Credner,  of  Giessen, 
Zittel,  of  Baden,  who  can  hardly  be  classed  with  the 
Schleiermacher  School,  in  any  sense,  and  are  only  held 
together  temporarily  by  a  negative  opposition  to  the 
symbolical  high  church,  hierarchical  and  reactionary 
tendencies  of  the  New  Lutheran  party. 

2.  The  LUTHERANS,  i.  e.,  the  strictly  symbolical  Lu 
therans,  who  have  no  connection  at  all  with  the  Prussian 
Establishment,  and  reject  every  kind  of  union  and  con 
federation  with  the  Reformed  Church,  as  a  compromise 
of  truth.  They  take  no  part  in  the  Evangelical  Church 
Diet,  and  still  less  in  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  In  this, 
they  are  more  consistent  than  the  Hengstenberg-Stahl 
party,  who  still  remain  in  the  LTnion.  As  the  Puseyites 
confine  the  true  Church  to  the  Episcopal  organizations, 
and  what  they  call  the  Apostolical  Succession,  so  these 


CHURCH   PARTIES.  253 

high  church  Lutherans  would  fain  confine  it  to  a  certain 
system  of  doctrine  as  embodied  in  the  unaltered  Augs 
burg  Confession,  Luther's  Catechisms,  and  the  Form  of 
Concord.  Heine  Lehre  and  reines  Bekenntniss  is  their 
motto.  To  this,  every  other  department  of  church-life 
is  made  subordinate,  as  if  religion  was  identical  with 
orthodoxy  or  correct  belief,  whilst  it  is  life  and  power, 
affecting  the  heart  and  will  even  more  than  the  head  and 
intellect. 

It  is  especially  the  Lutheran  tenet  of  the  eucharist, 
commonly  called  consubstantiation,  (although  they  dis 
own  the  term,)  i.  e.,  the  view  that  Christ's  body  and 
blood  are  really  present  in,  with  and  under  the  visible 
elements,  which  they  make  the  touchstone  of  true  ortho 
doxy.  They  conscientiously  refuse  to  commune  with 
those  who  hold  to  a  merely  symbolical,  or  dynamic,  or 
spiritual  real  presence,  and  who  confine  the  reception 
of  the  res  sacramenti  to  the  believing  communicants. 
Some  of  them,  I  am  certain,  would  at  any  time  rather 
commune  with  Roman  Catholics  than  with  Zwinglians 
or  Calviriists. 

The  late  excellent  Claus  Harms,  a  thoroughly  original 
and  truly  pious  Lutheran  minister,  winds  up  his  ninety- 
five  theses,  which  did  a  very  good  work  in  1817,  with 
the  proposition  : — "  The  Catholic  Church  is  a  glorious 
Church,  for  it  is  built  upon  the  Sacrament ;  the  Re 
formed  Church  is  a  glorious  Church,  for  it  is  built  upon 
the  Word;  but  more  glorious  than  either,  is  the  Lu 
theran  Church,  for  it  is  built  both  upon  the  Word 
and  the  Sacrament,  inseparably  united."  But  many 
of  the  modern  champions  of  Lutheranism  would  deny 
22 


254  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

even  this  virtne  to  the  Reformed  Church,  and  charge 
it  with  rationalism,  false  subjectivism  and  spiritual 
ism.  Their  excuse  is  that  their  views  of  the  world 
are  confined  to  certain  sections  of  Germany.  Were 
they  properly  acquainted  with  France,  Holland,  Eng 
land,  Scotland  and  the  United  States,  they  would 
probably  form  a  very  different  opinion  of  the  most  ac 
tive  and  energetic  sections  of  Protestant  Christendom. 
But  much  as  they  dislike  the  Reformed  Church,  they 
hate  still  more  heartily  the  Union,  which  they  regard  as 
the  work  of  religious  indifferentism  and  even  downright 
treason  to  Lutheranism,  tending  to  poison  and  to  de 
stroy  it. 

The  most  learned  and  worthy  champions  of  this  Lu 
theran  theology  are  Harless,  of  Munich ;  Lb'he,  of  Ans- 
pach;  the  whole  theological  faculty  of  Erlangen,  (ex 
cept  Herzog,)  especially  Thomasius,  and  Delitzsch ; 
Kahnis,  of  Leipzic ;  Klicfoth,  and  Philippi,  of  Meck 
lenburg  ;  Yilmar,  of  Marburg  (who  was  originally  Re 
formed  ;)  Petri,  of  Hanover  ;  Rudelbach,  a  Dane,  and 
Guericke,  of  Halle. 

Their  principal  theological  organs  are  the  "  Zeitsclirift 
fur  Protestantismus  und  Kir  die"  founded  by  Harless, 
and  now  issued  monthly  by  the  theological  faculty  of 
Erlangen  ;  the  "  Zeitscrift  far  diegesammte  Lutherisdie 
Theologie  und  Kir  die"  a  quarterly  review  under  the 
editorial  supervision  of  Rudelbach  and  Guericke ;  and 
the  "  Kirddidie  Zeitschrift,"  of  Kliefoth  and  Mejer  in 
Mecklenberg. 

As  much  as  these  admirers  of  the  Form  of  Concord 
unite  in  the  opposition  to  the  Union  and  the  Reformed  Con 
fession,  they  are  by  no  means  agreed  among  themselves. 


CHURCH   PARTIES.  255 

Some  years  ago  a  heated  controversy  broke  out  in  their 
ranks  concerning  the  nature  of  the  ministerial  office, 
which  was  carried  on  also  by  two  old  Lutheran  Synods 
in  the  United  States,  (the  Synod  of  Missouri,  and  the 
Synod  of  Buffalo,)  with  disgraceful  violence  and  pas 
sion.  More  recently,  Philippi,  of  Rostock  attacked 
Hofmann,  of  Erlangen,  and  charges  him  with  denying 
the  true  Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  and  of  the 
atonement.  The  Lutheran  conference  which  assembled  at 
Dresden,  in  the  summer  of  1856,  resolved  to  reintroduce 
private  confession  and  absolution,  and  the  Consistory  of 
Munich  issued  an  order  to  the  churches  of  Bavaria  to  that 
effect.  But  it  was  answered  by  a  number  of  protests 
from  Nuremberg,  and  other  strongholds  of  Lutheranism, 
which  goes  to  show,  that  this  hierarchical  movement 
meets  with  no  response  from  the  heart  of  the  people. 
In  Mecklenburg,  where  this  party  is  especially  zealous, 
the  churches,  I  am  told,  are  nearly  empty,  and  the  sta 
tistics  of  illegitimate  births  are  so  awfully  humiliating, 
that  it  wrould  be  far  more  important  to  revive  general 
Christianity  and  good  morals,  than  to  denounce  the 
Union,  and  to  persecute  Baptists  and  Methodists. 

3.  The  Reformed  divines  in  Germany  are  not  strict 
Calvinists,  especially  as  regards  the  doctrine  of  predesti 
nation  ;  but  stand  in  close  affinity  with  the  moderate  or 
Melanthonian  School  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Hence 
they  fell  heartily  in  with  the  Union-movement,  which 
originated  with  a  Reformed  prince,  and  are  mostly  iden 
tified  with  what  we  have  called  the  Centre  of  the  Evan 
gelical  Union.  So  Ebrard,  for  several  years  Reformed 
Professor  in  Zurich,  and  in  Erlangen — now  President 
of  the  Consistory  in  the  United  Church  of  the  Bavarian 


256  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS  AND 

Palatinate  ;  Herzog,  his  successor  in  the  Reformed  Pro 
fessorship  at  Erlangen,  a  native  of  Basel  and  formerly 
member  of  the  United  Faculty  of  Halle  ;  Sack,  of  Mag 
deburg  ;  Hundeshagen  and  Schenkel,  who  were  called 
from  Swiss  Universities — the  one  from  Berne,  the  other 
from  Basel — to  Heidelberg  in  Baden,  where  the  two  de 
nominations  are  likewise  united  ;  Hagenbach,  the  excel 
lent  Professor  of  church  history  in  Basel,  and  editor  of 
the  Reformed  Church  G-azette  for  German  Switzerland, 
but  not  differing  in  his  theological  position  from  the 
former  ;  Lange,  formerly  of  Zurich,  now  laboring  in 
Bonn.  These  are  the  most  distinguished  Reformed  di 
vines,  who  may  just  as  well  be  enumerated  under  the 
first  subdivision  of  our  first  class. 

Schweizer,  of  Zurich,  on  the  other  side,  the  able  but 
unsound  historian  of  the  theology  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  sympathizes  most  with  the  left  or  anti-symboli 
cal  wing  of  the  school  of  Schleiermacher,  and  contri 
butes  to  the  Protestant  Church  Gazette,  of  Krause. 

The  recent  revival  of  Confessional  Lutheranism,  and 
its  attacks  upon  the  Reformed  Church,  have  roused  the 
Reformed  Confessionalism,  especially  in  Hesse,  and 
called  forth  a  series  of  controversial  works  of  Heppe  in 
Marburg,  and  a  denominational  Reformed  Church  Ga 
zette,  (Reform.  Kirchenzeitung,}  published  by  Gobel,  in 
Erlangen. 

For  some  years  past,  an  annual  Reformed  Conference 
was  held  in  connection  with  the  sessions  of  the  Evan 
gelical  Church  Diet,  in  which  Hundeshagen,  Schenkel, 
Lange,  Sack,  Ebrard,  Sudhoff,  Heppe,  Gobel,  Herzog, 
Krummacher,  Mallet,  Ball,  and  other  distinguished  Re- 


CHURCH    PARTIES.  257 

formed  divines  and  pulpit  orators  take  part.  The  last 
one  was  held  at  Ltibeck,  in  September  1856,  and  re 
solved  to  call  a  general  conference  of  German  Reformed 
ministers  and  laymen  at  Bremen,  in  1857.  It  would  be 
desirable  to  give  these  scattered  churches  of  the  Re 
formed  communion  a  regular  organization  and  compact 
unity,  which  would  increase  their  efficiency.  At  present, 
however,  the  main  forces  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church  are  flowing  in  the  channel  of  the  evangelical 
Union.  If  exclusive  Lutheranism  should  succeed  in 
breaking  up  the  Union,  it  would  call  forth,  as  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  powerful  reaction 
and  revive  the  spirit  of  Reformed  denominationalism. 
But  even  in  this  case,  the  Reformed  Church  would  hold 
on  to  the  evangelical  Catholic  theology  of  Germany, 
and  carry  it  forward  in  friendly  co-operation  with  the 
moderate  section  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

Even  in  Switzerland,  the  theology  is  altogether  Ger 
man;  and  German  Evangelical  divines  are  frequently 
called  to  the  Reformed  universities  of  Basel,  Zurich,  and 
Berne. 


22: 


THIRD  PART. 


SKETCHES  OF  GERMAN  DIVINES. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 


NEANDER. 

His  Jewish  Descent — His  Conversion  and  Baptism — His  theological  Stu 
dies — Relation  to  Schleiermacher — His  Academic  Labors  at  Heidelberg 
and  Berlin — Last  Illness  and  Death — His  Sister  Hannchen — Neander's 
Personal  Appearance  and  Eccentricities — His  Moral  and  Religious  Char 
acter — Social  Habits — Lectures — His  theological  Works,  and  Merits  for 
Church  History. 

ALTHOUGH  the  great  and  good  Dr.  ISTeander  reposes 
now  with  the  mighty  dead,  whose  lives  and  labors  he 
reproduced  for  the  benefit  of  the  present  and  coming 
ages,  he  is  too  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  the  living 
generation,  and  has  exerted  too  much  influence  upon 
the  revival  of  Christian  faith  and  science  in  his  native 
land,  to  be  left  out  in  a  gallery  of  the  Evangelical  Di 
vines  of  Germany,  most  of  whom  cherish  his  memory 
with  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  pupils  or  friends. 

If  any  one  of  the  modern  divines  realized  the  idea  of 
a  church  father,  equally  distinguished  for  piety  and 
learning,  a  giant  in  knowledge  and  a  child  in  simplicity 
of  heart,  perfectly  unconcerned  about  the  things  of  the 
visible  world,  and  exclusively  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
the  spiritual  world,  living  more  in  the  past  than  in  the 
present,  and  yet  laboring  for  the  rising  generation  and 
leading  it  to  the  fountain  of  truth  and  wisdom,  univer- 


262  NEANDER. 

sally  revered  and  beloved  as  a  scholar,  a  man,  and  a 
Christian,  it  was  Neander.  Krummacher  said  at  his 
grave,  "  One  of  the  noblest  of  the  noble  in  the  kingdom 
of  God,  a  prince  in  Zion,  the  youngest  of  the  church 
fathers,  has  departed  from  us." 

Neander  was  of  Jewish  descent,  a  true  Nathanael,  one 
of  the  noblest  shoots  of  that  wonderful  people  which 
gave  birth  to  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  his  apostles, 
the  greatest  teachers  and  benefactors  of  mankind.  The 
dark,  oriental  cast  of  his  countenance  betrayed  his  na 
tional  origin,  while  his  mind  and  heart  were  perfectly 
free  from  the  sordid  traits  of  the  modern  Jew,  especially 
from  avarice.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  value  of  money, 
and  was  so  liberal  and  generous,  that  his  sister  had  to 
manage  his  purse  for  his  own  good. 

His  father,  Emmanuel  Mendel,  was  a  common  Jewish 
pedler ;  his  mother,  a  relative  of  the  celebrated  philoso 
pher,  Mendelssohn,  is  said  to  have  been  a  God-fearing 
and  agreeable  woman,  and  a  tender  mother.  She  had 
five  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  insanity.  Neander 
was  the  youngest,  born  at  Gottingen,  in  1789,  the  year 
of  that  terrible  social  earthquake  which  shook  France 
and  all  Europe  to  the  very  base.  At  the  circumcision, 
he  received  the  name  David.  The  mother  removed 
subsequently  with  her  children  from  Gottingen  to  Ham 
burg,  and  lived  separated  from  her  husband. 

In  the  college  of  this  commercial  metropolis  of  Nor 
thern  Germany,  David  Mendel  received  his  classical 
training,  and  soon  attracted  the  notice  of  his  teachers 
by  a  rare  degree  of  talent  and  industry,  in  connection 
with  great  oddity  of  appearance.  He  looked  like  a  sim- 


NEANDER.  263 

plcton,  and  was  the  object  of  much  ridicule,  which  made 
him  angry  when  he  observed  it ;  but  his  mind  was  gene 
rally  abstracted  from  the  surrounding  world.  All  who 
became  acquainted  with  him,  respected  his  talents  and 
character,  and  many  of  them  foresaw  his  future  great 
ness.  He  associated  principally  with  some  Christian 
youths,  Varnhagen  von  Ense,  Wilhelm  Neumann,  and 
the  poet  Chamisso,  who  were  carried  away  by  the  enthu 
siasm  of  the  Romantic  School  of  Tieck  and  Schlegel, 
and  published  a  literary  periodical. 

Deeply  religious  by  nature,  Neander  connected  all 
his  studies,  especially  the  classics  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
with  the  eternal  interests  and  destiny  of  man.  The 
philosophy  of  Plato  as  well  as  the  law  of  Moses  proved  to 
him  a  schoolmaster  to  Christ.  Neumann  wrote  of  him  in 
1806 :  "  Plato  is  his  idol,  and  his  constant  watchword. 
He  sits  over  him  day  and  night,  and  there  are  few  who 
receive  him  so  fully  and  with  such  purity  of  heart.  Upon 
the  world  round  about  him  he  looks  with  profound  con 
tempt."  He  passed  in  his  mind  through  the  historical 
process  of  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  preparation  of  the 
only  true  and  perfect  religion,  and  was  in  this  way  spe 
cially  prepared  for  the  great  mission  of  his  life — to  be 
the  historian  of  Christianity.  The  Romantic  School 
also,  which  revived  the  poetry  and  religion  of  the  Mid 
dle  Ages  in  opposition  to  the  cold  and  dreary  Rational 
ism  of  the  times,  had  considerable  effect  upon  him.  Still 
more  important  was  the  influence  of  Schleiermacher,  the 
German  Plato,  whose  "Discourses  on  Religion,"  first 
published  in  1799,  conducted  him  to  the  threshhold  of 
the  Christian  Revelation. 


264  NEANDER. 

Thus  fully  convinced  from  every  direction,  as  far  as 
a  youth  of  his  age  could  be,  of  the  divine  origin  and  ab 
solute  truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  the  fulfillment 
of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  the  desire  of  all  na 
tions,  he  resolved  upon  the  important  step  to  pass  from 
the  outer  court  into  the  sanctuary.  Accordingly,  he  was 
baptized  in  1806,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  age,  his 
teacher,  John  Gurlitt,  and  his  friends,  Augustus  Varn- 
hagen,  and  William  Neumann,  assisting  in  the  solemn 
ceremony  as  sponsors.  From  them  he  adopted  the  name 
John  Augustus  William  Neander,  (Newman.) 

There  still  exists  an  essay  on  religion  from  his  pen, 
written  just  before  his  baptism,  and  published  by  Dr. 
Kling  in  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken"  for  1851,  p.  524. 
Although  unripe,  vague  and  mixed  with  error,  it  is  char 
acteristic  of  his  internal  history,  and  future  stand-point, 
and  reveals  the  ferment  of  his  mind,  which  was  even  then 
agitated  by  the  highest  problems.  A  few  quotations 
may  suffice:  "All  religion  proceeds  from  a  desire  after 
the  infinite.  It  is  itself  the  reflection  of  the  infinite. 
The  prophets  of  Judaism,  and  the  divine  Plato,  especial 
ly  in  his  Republic,  proclaimed  and  prophesied  the  holy 
religion  which  should  regenerate  every  thing,  and  rea 
lize  the  living  representation  of  the  infinite.  The  Word 
became  flesh ;  the  union  and  re-union  of  the  divine  and 
human  nature  took  place.  From  faith  in  Christ  all 
salvation  proceeds.  The  object  of  man's  life  is  annihi 
lation  of  selfishness,  and  union  with  God  and  the  infi 
nite.  Humility  is  the  most  sacred  attribute  of  this 
divine  religion,  the  absolute  synthesis  of  freedom  and 
necessity.  Its  social  form  is  the  church,  an  ideal  com- 


NEANDER.  265 

monwealth,  distinct  from  the  temporal  state,  the  most 
perfect  product  of  divine  love  and  desire,  an  association 
of  souls  for  the  contemplation  and  enjoyment  of  the  infi 
nite  and  eternal.  The  Christian  religion  is  the  restora 
tion  of  child-like  innocence,  but  with  the  addition  of 
clear  consciousness.  Its  spirit  is  ever  fresh  and  young, 
and  can  never  die,  though  its  temporal  forms  change  and 
improve,  until  the  absolute  form  be  found,  which  will 
remain  unshaken  and  unchangeable  forever." 

The  brothers  and  sisters  of  Neander  gradually  follow 
ed  his  example.  Some  years  afterwards  his  mother  like 
wise  became  a  convert  to  the  Christian  faith,  removed 
to  Berlin  and  lived  with  him  until  her  death  in  1817. 

The  baptism  of  David  Mendel  was  at  the  same  time 
his  consecration  to  the  holy  ministry.  He  pursued  his 
theological  studies  at  Halle  and  Gottingen,  supported  in 
part  by  an  uncle,  Dr.  Stieglitz,  of  Hanover. 

In  the  former  University  he  heard  Schleiermacher,  in 
1806,  from  whom  he  dates  a  new  epoch  in  the  history 
of  theology.  He  speaks,  in  his  letters  of  that  period, 
with  much  enthusiasm  of  the  rare  union  of  thorough 
learning  and  creative  genius,  in  this  extraordinary  man, 
whose  colleague  he  became  afterwards  in  Berlin.  To 
him  he  stood  indebted,  as  he  always  acknowledged,  for 
manifold  quickening  impulses,  although  he  had  no  sym 
pathy  with  the  pantheistic  and  deterministic  elements  of 
his  system,  and  was  more  positive  and  realistic  in  his 
religious  convictions,  laying  great  stress  upon  the  doc 
trine  of  sin  as  a  free  act,  or  rather  abuse  of  freedom, 
and  upon  the  personality  of  God.  He  did  not  write 
much,  but  by  means  of  an  extraordinary  memory  he 
23 


266  NEANDER. 

could  dictate  Schleiermacher's  lectures  almost  sentence 
by  sentence. 

He  had  the  misfortune,  with  many  other  students,  to 
be  robbed  by  the  French  soldiers  after  the  battle  of  Jena, 
and  as  Napoleon  suspended  the  University  of  Halle,  he 
left  for  Gottingen,  where  he  arrived  penniless,  with  a 
ragged  coat  and  hat.  Here  he  continued  his  study  of 
Plato  and  Plutarch,  and  plunged  now  deeper  into  history 
as  taught  by  Planck  and  Heeren,  into  the  New  Testa 
ment,  and  the  oldest  church  fathers,  who  soon  became 
his  favorite  studies.  His  room-mate,  Noodt,  had  great 
difficulty  to  keep  him  from  studying  all  night.  He  be 
came  conscious  at  that  time  that  church  history  was  his 
peculiar  field  of  future  labor. 

Having  completed  his  academical  course,  he  spent 
some  time  in  Hamburg,  and  stood  a  brilliant  examina 
tion  as  candidate  for  the  ministry.  But  as  he  was  poor 
ly  qualified  for  the  pulpit,  and  felt  himself  called  to  an 
academic  career,  he  readily  followed  the  advice  of  his 
friend  Noodt,  to  commence  lecturing  at  the  University 
of  Heidelberg,  where  just  two  vacancies  had  been  created 
in  the  theological  faculty  by  the  call  of  Marheineke  and 
De  Wette  to  the  University  of  Berlin,  in  1810.  He 
wrote  a  curriculum  mice,  and  a  Latin  dissertation  on  the 
relation  of  faith  and  knowledge,  (de  fidei  gnoseosque  idea 
secundum  Clementem  Alex.  Heidelb.  1811,)  and  was  soon 
promoted  to  an  extraordinary  professorship. 

In  1812,  he  published  his  work  on  Julian,  the  Apos 
tate,  which  at  once  decided  his  qualifications  for  the 
historiography  of  the  Church,  and  procured  him  a  call 
to  the  newly  founded  University  of  Berlin,  in  1813, 


NEANDER.  267 

which,  through  him,  Schleiermacher,  Marheineke,  De 
Wette,  Fichte,  Hegel,  Ritter,  Ranke,  and  many  other 
illustrious  names,  rose  in  a  short  time  to  the  dignity  and 
influence  of  the  scientific  and  literary  metropolis  of  Ger 
many. 

Since  that  time  he  labored  incessantly  and  most 
faithfully  in  Berlin  as  a  lecturer  and  writer,  by  word 
and  example,  till  his  death,  on  the  14th  of  July,  1850 ; 
only  now  and  then  breaking  the  uniformity  of  his  exist 
ence,  by  a  vacation  trip,  in  company  with  his  sister,  or 
with  some  student,  for  the  benefit  of  his  weak  health, 
and  to  consult  rare  books  and  unpublished  manuscripts 
in  the  libraries  of  Vienna,  Munich,  Wolfenbiittel,  or 
elsewhere. 

Neander  was  deprived  at  last  of  his  eye-sight,  which 
had  long  been  weakened  by  incessant  study.  Neverthe 
less,  he  continued  to  read  and  write  through  the  assist 
ance  of  a  faithful  pupil.  In  the  beginning  of  1850  he 
even  established,  with  Drs.  Miiller  and  Nitzsch,  a  new 
periodical,  the  Deutsche  Zeitschrift  fur  Qhristliche  Wis- 
senschaft  und  OhristUches  Leben,  and  contributed  seve 
ral  excellent  papers  to  it,  such  as  a  retrospect  of  the 
first  half  of  the  present  century,  one  on  the  difference 
between  Hellenic  and  Christian  Ethics,  another  on  prac 
tical  exegesis. 

Even  only  eight  days  before  his  death,  on  the  occa 
sion  of  a  visit  of  Giitzlaff,  who  was  then  regarded  by 
some  as  "the  apostle  of  the  Chinese,"  he  made  an 
address  with  youthful  freshness  on  the  Chinese  mission, 
and  looked  forward  with  cheerful  hope  to  the  future 
triumphs  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  description  of 


268  NEANDER. 

whose  growth,  under  the  guidance  of  the  twin  parables 
of  the  mustard  seed  and  the  leaven,  was  the  principal 
business  of  his  life. 

On  the  following  Monday,  he  delivered  his  last  lec 
ture  in  the  University,  in  spite  of  severe  pains  from 
an  attack  of  something  like  cholera,  so  that  he  was 
scarcely  able  to  finish  and  to  come  down  the  steps  of  the 
rostrum  with  the  help  of  the  students.  His  teacher  and 
friend,  Schleiermacher,  likewise  died  in  the  midst  of  ac 
tivity  and  usefulness,  and  Daub  was  struck  dead  by 
apoplexy  at  the  very  desk  of  his  lecture  room  at  Heidel 
berg,  after  having  pronounced  the  words  of  Schiller : 
"  Das  Leben  ist  der  G liter  hochstes  nicht." 

The  last  words  of  Neander,  addressed  to  his  sister, 
were:  "I  am  weary,  let  us  go  home  !"  Then  he  was 
put  to  bed,  and  with  a  scarcely  audible,  but  deeply  affec 
tionate  "  Good  night !"  he  slept  the  last  sleep,  and  awoke 
on  the  morning  of  the  Lord's  day,  in  the  blessed  abodes 
of  angels  and  saints  in  heaven,  in  the  company  of  St. 
John,  Chrysostom,  Augustine,  Bernard,  Anselm,  Melan- 
thon,  and  other  favorite  kindred  spirits,  there  to  rest 
from  his  labors,  and  to  adore  face  to  face  the  mystery 
of  the  triune  God,  and  his  wonderful  counsels  of  wisdom 
and  mercy. 

His  sister  Hannah,  who  took  care  of  his  household, 
survived  him  four  years.  She  was  unmarried,  like  him 
self,  quite  original,  spirited  and  literary,  and  yet  practi 
cal,  and  for  this  reason  indispensable  to  him.  I  saw  her 
once  more  a  few  weeks  before  her  death,  in  the  summer 
of  1854,  in  her  modest  lodgings  in  the  Kochstrasse  at 
Berlin,  and  was  much  affected  by  this  interview,  which 


NEANDER.  269 

brought  vividly  to  mind  many  scenes  of  former  years, 
never  to  be  forgotten.  She  was  then  sickly,  and  long 
ing  to  depart  from  this  world,  which  had  lost  all  attrac 
tion  for  her  since  the  loss  of  her  beloved  brother.  She 
showed  me  with  tears  his  busts,  one  representing  him  in 
life,  the  other  in  the  repose  of  death,  also  the  bust  of  his 
favorite  pupil,  Rossel,  a  youth  of  uncommon  promise, 
whose  untimely  decease  he  had  to  deplore.  These  and 
some  memorials  of  friends  and  pupils  were  the  only 
things  dear  to  her,  and  reminded  her  of  happy  days. 
But  she  bore  her  grief  and  desolation  with  Christian 
faith,  and  now  rests  in  peace  at  the  side  of  her  brother. 
In  his  outward  appearance,  Neander  was  a  real  curios 
ity,  especially  in  the  lecture-room.  Think  of  a  man  of 
middle  size,  slender  frame,  homely,  but  interesting 
and  benevolent  face,  dark  and  strongly  Jewish  complex 
ion,  deep  seated,  sparkling  eyes,  overshadowed  by  an 
unusually  strong  bushy  pair  of  eye-brows,  black  hair 
flowing  in  uncombed  profusion  over  the  forehead,  an  old- 
fashioned  coat,  a  white  cravat  carelessly  tied,  as  often 
behind  or  on  one  side  of  the  neck,  as  in  front,  a  shabby 
hat  set  aslant,  jack-boots  reaching  above  the  knees ;  think 
of  him  thus  either  as  sitting  at  home,  surrounded  by  books 
on  the  shelves,  on  the  table,  on  the  few  chairs  and  all 
over  the  floor ;  or  as  walking  unter  den  Linden,  and  in  the 
Thiergarten  of  Berlin,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his  sister 
Hannchen,  or  a  faithful  student,  his  eyes  shut  or  looking 
up  to  heaven,  talking  theology  in  midst  of  the  noise  and 
fashion  of  the  city,  and  presenting  altogether  a  most 
singular  contrast  to  the  teeming  life  around  him,  stared 
at,  smiled  at,  wondered  at,  yet  respectfully  greeted  by 

23* 


270  NEANDER. 

all  who  knew  him  ;  or  finally  as  standing  on  the  rostrum, 
playing  with  a  goose  quill  which  his  amanuensis  had  al 
ways  to  provide ;  constantly  crossing  and  recrossing  his 
feet,  bent  forward,  frequently  sinking  his  head  to  dis 
charge  a  morbid  flow  of  spittle,  and  then  again  sudden 
ly  throwing  it  on  high,  especially  when  roused  to  polemic 
zeal  against  pantheism  and  dead  formalism;  at  times 
fairly  threatening  to  overturn  the  desk,  and  yet  all  the 
while  pouring  forth  with  the  greatest  earnestness  and 
enthusiasm,  without  any  other  help  than  that  of  some 
illegible  notes,  an  uninterrupted  flow  of  learning  and 
thought  from  the  deep  and  pure  fountain  of  the  inner 
life ;  and  thus  with  all  the  oddity  of  the  outside,  at  once 
commanding  the  veneration  and  confidence  of  every 
hearer ; — imagine  all  this,  and  you  have  a  picture  of 
ISTcander,  the  most  original  phenomenon  in  the  literary 
world  of  this  nineteenth  century. 

In  all  this  there  was  not  the  least  degree  of  affecta 
tion  ;  he  was  perfectly  natural,  and  almost  as  uncon 
scious  of  his  eccentricities,  as  a  child  of  his  innocence. 

He  was  never  married,  and  belonged  to  those  excep 
tions  where  celibacy  is  a  necessity  and  duty,  and  a  means 
for  greater  usefulness  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  a 
congenial  sister  kept  house  for  him,  and  attended  to  his 
wants  with  the  most  tender  care.  The  childlike  inter 
course  of  this  original  couple  had  something  very  touch 
ing.  He  was  almost  as  helpless  as  a  child  in  matters  of 
dress.  The  story  runs,  that  he  once  started  off  for  the 
lecture-room  in  his  morning-gown  and  sans  culottes,  but 
was  happily  overtaken  by  the  watchful  sister ;  also  that 
once  in  trying  a  new  pair  of  pantaloons,  he  kept  on  the 


NEANDER.  271 

old  ones,  drew  the  left  half  over  the  right  leg,  and  cut 
the  other  half  off  with  a  scissor  as  superfluous  !  Se  non 
e  vero,  e  ben  trovato.  His  clothing  was  of  the  most  sim 
ple  sort,  and  hardly  fit  for  a  gentleman.  His  modera 
tion  in  eating  and  drinking  reminded  one  of  the  self- 
denial  of  old  ascetics,  like  St.  Antony  of  Egypt,  who 
ate  only  once  in  three  days,  and  then  felt  ashamed,  as 
an  immortal  spirit,  to  be  in  need  of  earthly  food. 

Yet  Neander  was  extremely  hospitable,  and  invited 
his  friends  often  to  dinner,  and  while  they  were  enjoying 
the  provisions  of  the  table,  he  talked  to  them  theology 
and  religion,  or  branched  out  occasionally  into  harmless 
humor  and  the  more  trifling  topics  of  the  day,  as  far  as 
they  came  to  his  notice.  The  students  he  gathered 
around  him  one  evening  every  week,  to  a  social  tea  and 
familiar  conversation.  There  he  gave  free  vent  to  all 
that  agitated  his  mind,  and  rejoiced  or  troubled  his  heart, 
concerning  the  state  of  the  Church  and  the  movements 
of  theological  science. 

As  a  man  and  a  Christian,  he  was  universally  esteemed, 
even  by  those  who  regarded  him  either  as  too  orthodox, 
or  too  latitudinarian.  His  absolute  honesty,  unaffected 
kindness,  and  deep  piety,  were  beyond  all  possible  doubt. 
Much  must  be  attributed  to  his  nature.  He  had  less  of 
the  ordinary  temptations  which  surround  men  generally, 
and  was  constitutionally  unworldly.  But  supernatural 
grace  had  regenerated  his  heart  and  adorned  and  per 
fected  his  natural  virtues.  Simplicity,  humility  and 
love,  the  noblest  gifts  of  grace,  were  the  most  prominent 
traits  of  his  character.  He  possessed  them  to  a  degree 
in  which  they  are  rarely  found  in  this  world.  With  him 


272  NEANDER. 

there  was  no  contradiction  between  theory  and  practice, 
head  and  heart.  All  empty  show  and  hypocrisy,  all 
pride  and  vain  glory  he  most  heartily  despised.  He  was 
extremely  kind,  liberal  and  charitable  in  his  feelings, 
although  not  free  from  occasional  outbreaks  of  passion 
and  vehemence  against  certain  theological  tendencies, 
which  he  regarded  as  dangerous,  especially  the  Hegelian 
pantheism.  I  remember  many  traits  of  his  benevolence 
to  the  poor,  particularly  poor  students,  to  whom  he  was 
a  most  affectionate  father. 

His  heart  was  open  to  friendship,  and  his  faithful 
memory  seldom  forgot  one  who  once  had  made  an  impres 
sion  upon  him,  though  he  were  only  a  transient  visitor. 
Every  stranger  with  proper  recommendations,  was  cor 
dially  welcome  to  his  study  at  the  fixed  hour  of  conver 
sation,  (between  five  and  seven  in  the  evening,)  or  at  his 
table,  and  he  showed  himself  as  obliging  as  could  possi 
bly  be  expected  from  a  man  so  unpractical  and  helpless 
as  he.  Generally  he  plunged  at  once  into  the  deepest 
theological  discussions,  opening  his  mind  most  freely 
with  little  prudential  regard  to  men  or  circumstances. 
So  he  shocked  many  a  Puritan  and  Presbyterian,  by  in 
viting  them  to  dinner  on  Sunday,  but  always  won  their 
esteem  and  love  by  the  ensemble  of  his  theology  and 
character.  He  spoke  the  English  fluently,  although  not 
quite  correctly,  and  admired  the  American  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  of  politics  and  religion,  the  voluntary 
principle  and  unchecked  growth  of  religious  life.  I 
heard  him  speak  very  kindly  of  Drs.  Hodge,  Robinson, 
Sears,  Sprague,  and  I  am  sure,  they  and  many  others 
who  had  the  pleasure  of  making  his  personal  acquaint- 


NEANDER.  273 

ance,  cherish  his  memory  with  grateful  esteem  and  af 
fection. 

As  a  theological  teacher,  he  was  unsurpassed  for  faith 
fulness  and  efficiency.  He  had  generally  several  hun 
dred  hearers,  who  listened  to  him  with  the  profoundest 
attention  in  spite  of  his  exceedingly  awkward  appear 
ance  in  the  chair.  He  always  taught  out  of  the  fulness 
of  the  subject  and  with  complete  mastery  of  the  mate 
rial.  His  method  was  not  mechanical  and  traditional, 
but  organic  and  reproductive.  He  developed  the  sub 
ject  and  made  it  grow  before  the  eyes  of  the  student,  so 
as  to  enable  him  to  understand  the  inner  life  as  well  as 
the  outward  form,  the  origin  and  growth  as  much  as  the 
result.  In  this  respect  he  was  only  surpassed  by  the 
unrivaled  Schleiermacher. 

As  to  Neander's  theology,  its  principal  force  and 
charm  lies  in  the  vital  union  of  profound  learning  and 
personal  piety.  Not  without  reason  had  he  chosen  for 
his  motto,  "  Pectus  est  quod  iheologum  fadt"  the  heart 
makes  the  theologian.  Another  favorite  motto  of  his 
was  the  sentence  which  he  wrote  in  my  Album,  and 
which  is  characteristic  of  his  unworldliness  and  spiritual 
ity,  "  Theologia  crucis,  nonglorioe."  To  a  distinguished 
American  divine,  he  wrote  in  Greek  the  beautiful  words  as 
a  memorandum  :  "  Rejoice  in  Christ,  be  nothing  in  your 
self,  be  all  in  Christ."  He  pursued  theology  not  merely 
as  an  exercise  of  the  understanding,  but  always  as  a 
sacred  business  of  the  heart,  which  he  felt  to  be  most 
intimately  connected  with  the  highest  and  most  solemn 
interests  of  man,  even  his  eternal  welfare.  The  living 
centre  and  heart's  blood  of  the  science  was  for  him  faith 


274  NEANDER. 

in  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  highest  revelation  of  a  holy  and 
merciful  God,  as  the  fountain  of  all  salvation  and  sanc 
tifying  grace  for  a  ruined  world.  Whatever  he  found 
that  was  really  great,  noble,  good  and  true  in  history, 
he  referred  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  fact  of  the  in 
carnation,  in  which  he  humbly  adored  the  central  sun 
of  all  history  and  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  the  moral 
universe. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  his  theolgy  in  many  respects 
falls  short  of  the  proper  standard  of  orthodoxy.  He  did 
not  admit  the  binding  authority  of  the  symbolical  books 
even  in  a  restricted  sense.  His  views  on  inspiration,  on 
the  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  on  the  Holy 
Trinity,  are  somewhat  loose,  vague  and  unsatisfactory. 
His  best  disciples,  in  this  respect,  have  gone  beyond  his 
position  and  become  more  orthodox  and  churchly. 

But  then  it  must  be  considered — 1,  that  he  rose  in  an 
age  of  universal  rationalism,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest 
pioneers  of  evangelical  faith  and  theology  in  Germany ; 
2,  that  this  very  liberalism,  and  if  we  choose  to  call  it, 
latitudinarianism,  served  as  a  bridge  for  many,  who  could 
not  otherwise  have  been  rescued  from  the  bonds  of  skep 
ticism  ;  3,  that  these  defects  did  not  weaken  his  general 
conviction  of  the  divine  character  of  Christianity,  nor 
affect  his  unfeigned,  deep-rooted  piety.  Many  of  his 
pupils  and  followers  surpass  him  in  orthodoxy,  but  few 
can  be  found  in  any  age,  in  whom  doctrine  was  to  the 
same  extent,  life  and  power,  in  whom  theoretic  conviction 
had  so  fully  passed  over  into  flesh  and  blood,  in  whom 
the  love  of  Christ  and  of  man  glowed  with  so  warm  and 
pure  a  flame,  as  in  the  truly  great  and  good  Neander. 


NEANDER.  275 

His  greatest  and  most  lasting  merit  as  a  theologian, 
lies  in  the  department  of  church  history,  which  he  not 
only  enriched  with  material  contributions,  but  also  with 
a  new  method  of  treatment  more  satisfactory  than  that 
of  his  predecessors.  He  is  therefore  called  the  Father 
of  Modern  Church  History,  and  marks  an  epoch  in  this 
field  of  sacred  learning  fully  as  much  as  Flacius  did  in 
the  sixteenth,  Arnold  in  the  seventeenth,  and  Mosheim 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  As  we  have  given  a  lengthy 
analysis  of  Neander  as  a  church  historian  in  another 
work,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  here  to  a  few  general 
remarks. 

We  have  from  his  pen  a  general  church  history  from 
the  death  of  the  apostles  to  the  Council  of  Basil,  in 
1430,  which  is  now  accessible  to  all  English  readers  in 
the  American  translation  of  Torry,  and  the  Edinburgh 
and  London  reprints  of  the  same ;  and  a  number  of  valu 
able  monographs  on  the  Apostolic  Age,  the  Gnostics, 
Julian  the  Apostate,  Tertullian,  St.  Chrysostom,  and 
St.  Bernard,  most  of  which  are  likewise  translated  into 
the  English,  as  well  as  into  the  French  and  Dutch  lan 
guages.  Of  his  posthumous  works,  which  are  to  embrace 
all  of  his  lectures  on  New  Testament  exegesis,  symbolics, 
dogmatics,  and  ethics,  the  doctrine-history  (Dogmenge- 
schichte)  has  just  appeared  (in  two  volumes,  1856  and  '57) 
under  the  editorial  care  of  one  of  his  most  faithful  pupils, 
Dr.  J.  L.  Jacobi  of  Halle. 

He  is  by  no  means  a  model  as  a  writer  of  church  his 
tory.  His  style  is  too  monotonous  and  diffuse,  without 
any  picturesque  alternation  of  light  and  shade,  and  flows 
like  a  quiet  stream  over  an  unbroken  plain.  He  was 


276  NEANDER. 

also  poorly  qualified  to  do  justice  to  the  political  and 
aesthetic  departments  and  connections  of  this  science, 
and  his  chapters  on  church  government  and  sacred  art 
are  therefore  very  defective. 

But  his  great  fort  lies  in  a  thorough  mastery,  inde 
pendent  investigation,  and  scrupulously  conscientious  use 
of  the  sources ;  and  above  all,  in  the  extraordinary  talent 
of  bringing  out,  in  a  genetic  way,  the  hidden  life  of 
Christianity  and  representing  it  as  a  leaven-like  power 
that  pervades  and  sanctifies  the  lump  of  society  from 
within.  He  restored  the  religious  and  practical  element 
to  its  due  prominence,  in  opposition  to  the  coldly  intel 
lectual  and  critical  method  of  the  rationalistic  historians 
who  immediately  preceded  him;  yet  without  thereby 
wronging  in  the  least  the  claims  of  science,  or  running 
into  narrow  sectarian  extremes,  like  the  pietistic  Arnold. 
He  everywhere  follows  the  footsteps  of  the  Saviour  in 
His  march  through  the  various  ages  of  the  Church,  and 
kisses  them  reverently  wherever  he  finds  them.  He 
traces  them  in  the  writings  of  an  Origen  and  a  Tertul- 
lian,  a  Chrysostom  and  an  Augustin,  a  Bernard  and  a 
Thomas  Aquinas,  a  Luther  and  a  Melanthon,  a  Calvin 
and  a  Fenelon.  Christ  was  to  him  the  divine  harmony 
of  all  the  discords  of  churches  and  sects,  or  as  he  liked 
to  repeat  after  Pascal :  En  Jesus  Christ  toutes  les  contra 
dictions  sont  accordees. 

He  no  doubt  went  too  far  sometimes  in  his  liberality. 
By  trying  to  do  all  justice  even  to  heretics  and  secta 
rians,  he  was  in  danger  sometimes,  like  Arnold  and 
Milner,  although,  of  course,  in  a  far  less  degree,  of 
doing  injustice  to  the  champions  of  orthodoxy  and  the 


NEANDER.  277 

Church.  There  is  in  him  a  want  of  the  proper  apprecia 
tion  of  the  objective,  realistic  element  in  church  history. 
He  is  more  the  historian  of  the  invisible  kingdom  of 
Christ  in  the  hearts  of  his  individual  members,  than  of 
the  visible  church  in  its  great  conflict  and  contact  with 
a  wicked  world. 

These  and  other  defects,  however,  are  less  dangerous 
and  censurable  than  those  of  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
cannot  blind  us,  of  course,  to  the  real  excellences  and 
immortal  merits  of  his  historical  works.  He  is  emphati 
cally  the  evangelical  regenerator  of  this  branch  of  the 
ology.  He  made  it  a  running  commentary  on  Christ's 
precious  promise  to  be  with  his  people  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  even  with  two  or  three  of  his  humblest  disci 
ples  where  they  are  assembled  in  his  name.  Thus  church 
history  becomes  to  the  intelligent  reader  a  book  of  devo 
tion  as  well  as  useful  and  interesting  information,  or  to 
use  Neander's  own  words,  in  the  preface  to  the  first 
volume  of  his  large  work,  "a  living  witness  for  the 
divine  power  of  Christianity,  a  school  of  Christian  expe 
rience,  a  voice  of  edification,  instruction  and  warning, 
sounding  through  all  ages,  for  all  who  are  disposed  to 
hear." 


24 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 


T  II  0  L  U  C  K  . 

His  early  History  and  Conversion — The  True  Consecration  of  the  Skeptic — 
Baron  von  Kottwitz — Tholuck's  academic  Career  at  Berlin  and  Halle — 
His  Personal  Character,  and  Love  for  the  Students — His  Lectures,  and 
Sermons — His  Scholarship,  and  Theological  Position — His  Works  and 
Merits. 

NEXT  to  Neander,  no  German  divine  of  the  present 
century  is  more  extensively  known  in  the  Protestant 
churches  of  France,  Holland,  England  and  America, 
than  Dr.  Frederick  Augustus  Tholuck,  of  Halle.  His 
disciples  are  scattered  nearly  all  over  the  Protestant 
world,  and  gratefully  remember  his  genial  influence  and 
personal  attention.  His  name  will  always  be  honorably 
connected  with  the  history  of  the  revival  of  evangelical 
theology  and  piety  in  Germany. 

Like  the  great  majority  of  distinguished  scholars, 
Tholuck  is  of  poor  and  humble  descent.  He  was  born  at 
Breslau  in  1799.  He  labored  for  some  time,  if  I  remem 
ber  right,  in  the  office  of  a  jeweller  in  Silesia.  But  some 
benevolent  friends  furnished  him  the  means  to  satisfy  his 
noble  ambition  and  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge  in  the 
gymnasium  of  his  native  city,  and  subsequently  in  the 
university  of  Berlin.  He  studied  day  and  night  to  such 
an  excess  that  he  undermined  his  health,  and  contracted 
a  chronic  affection  of  his  eyes. 


THOLUCK.  279 

He  had  naturally  a  strong  inclination  to  skepticism 
and  pantheism,  and  was  filled  with  prejudices  against  the 
pietists  and  mystics,  as  the  serious  Christians  were  then 
called.  "  The  contracted  views  of  life,"  he  says,  "that 
were  associated  in  my  mind  with  these  epithets,  disposed 
me  carefully  to  shun  all  acquaintance  with  them,  be 
lieving  that  it  would  check  all  vigor  of  action  and  all 
freedom  of  thought ;  that  it  would  make  all  the  more- 
ments  of  the  soul  as  monotonous  as  the  tinkling  of  a 
hand-bell,  and  cast  over  the  whole  path  of  life,  and  im 
press  on  one's  very  countenance,  the  pale  hues  of  death. 
Under  such  chilling  influences,  I  imagined  that  the 
beauty  and  splendor  of  the  wide  fields  of  science  must 
be  exchanged  for  a  miserable  garden  of  pot-herbs ;  the 
rich  profusion,  the  ever  varied  novelties  of  the  Eden  of 
nature,  for  a  narrow  cloister  walk ;  and  the  immeasura 
ble  magnificence  of  the  starry  heavens,  for  the  damp 
and  gloom  of  a  vaulted  catacomb."  He  left  the  college 
of  Breslau  with  a  sophomorical  speech  in  which  he  glori 
fied  Mohamedanism  as  a  religion  of  equal  dignity  and 
beauty  with  Christianity. 

The  experience  of  sin  and  grace  in  his  heart,  the  in 
tercourse  with  Neander  and  other  pious  men,  and  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures  saved  him  from  the  whirlpool  of 
infidelity.  He  was  awakened  in  his  twentieth  year  as  a 
student  in  Berlin,  contemporaneously  with  his  friends, 
Julius  Muller,  Rothe  and  Olshausen,  who  became  sub 
sequently  distinguished  divines.  He  himself  gives  a 
spirited  and  interesting  account  of  the  internal  conflicts 
through  which  he  passed,  in  his  youthful  work,  "  Sin 
and  Redemption,  or  the  True  Consecration  of  the 


280  THOLUCK. 

Skeptic,"  (first  published  in  1825,)  which  in  its  seven 
editions  has  done  a  great  deal  of  good,  especially 
among  students  of  theology,  and  led  many  from  the 
barren  desert  of  rationalism  to  the  green  meadows  and 
fresh  fountains  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  It  was  trans 
lated  long  since  by  Ryland,  with  a  commendatory  in 
troduction  by  Dr.  John  Pye  Smith,  and  has  been  re 
cently  republished  in  this  country.  (Gould  &  Lincoln, 
Boston,  1854.)  It  was  a  refutation  in  fact,  though  not 
in  original  intention,  of  the  semi-rationalistic  religious 
novel  of  De  Wette,  "  Theodore,  or  the  Consecration  of 
the  Skeptic,"  1822.  It  describes  in  a  series  of  letters, 
with  the  fresh  inspiration  of  the  first  love  to  the  Sa 
viour,  the  learned  aberrations  and  the  conversion  of  two 
young  divines;  Julius,  who  is  supposed  to  be  Dr.  Julius 
MUller,  now  Tholuck's  colleague,  and  Guido,  in  whom 
the  author  has  portraitured  himself. 

From  this  book,  as  well  as  from  private  sources,  we 
learn  that  the  Baron  von  Kottwitz,  a  true  Christian  no 
bleman,  and  an  exceedingly  worthy  member  of  the  Mo 
ravian  congregation  in  Berlin,  was  the  principal  human 
instrument  in  Tholuck's  conversion. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  frequently  seeing  and  conversing 
with  this  John-like  disciple  of  the  Lord,  in  his  extreme 
old  age  in  the  years  1840  and  1842,  having  been  intro 
duced  to  him  by  the  kindness  of  Tholuck,  and  I  never 
met  a  man  who  seemed  so  nearly  to  approach  the  ideal 
of  an  evangelical  saint.  He  lived  in  very  plain  style 
on  the  Alexander  Platz  in  Berlin,  in  an  orphan  asylum 
which  he  founded,  or  superintended,  and  took  special 
delight  in  the  company  of  young  divines.  He  pointed 


THOLUCK.  281 

them  to  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world,  and  to   his   everlasting  Gospel   as  the   only 
source  of  true  theology  and  usefulness  in  the  Church. 
Not  only  Tholuck,  but  also  Neander,  Olshausen,  Rothe, 
Miiller,  Hengstenberg,  and  many   others   were   edified 
and  encouraged  by  his  word  and  example,  and  he  may 
be  regarded  as   one  of  the  lay-fathers  of  the   modern 
evangelical  theology  of  Germany.     It  was  impossible  to 
resist  the  influence  of  the   purity  and  simplicity  of  his 
character,  and  his  ardent  love  to  God   and  man.     He 
combined  in  a  rare  degree  the  finest  culture  of  a  noble 
man  with  childlike  faith,  true  dignity  with  unaffected  hu 
mility.     He   seemed  to   be   transformed  into  the  holy 
image  of  Jesus.     His  whole  life  was  a  course   of  unos 
tentatious,   disinterested    benevolence,   an   imitation  of 
Him  who  went  about  doing  good  and  sacrificed  himself 
for  the  salvation  of  the  world.     Kottwitz  is  the  "  Father 
Abraham,"  in  Tholuck's  book,  of  whom    Guido  writes 
to  his  friend  Julius:   "  This  venerable  saint  has  been  re 
siding  here  for  a  few  years,  enjoying  a  perpetual  Sab 
bath  of  the  soul,  akin  to  that  of  the  spirits  of  the  just 
above,  uniting  a  blissful  repose  with  an  equally  blissful 
activity  of  love.     To  a  very  advanced  age  he  was  inces 
santly  occupied,  both  in  his  journeys  and  in  his  fixed 
abode,  with  works  of  philanthropy  and  piety.    The  dwel 
lings  of  misery  and  sorrow  have  seen  him  most  frequent 
ly  ;  for  his  highest  gratification  has  been  to  dry  up  the 
tears  of  the  afflicted.     He  has  travelled  far  and  wide. 
Where  his  influence  and  power  have  been  the  greatest, 
he  has  improved  the  hospitals  and  jails  ;  where  his  effort 
for  doing  good  on  a  larger  scale  met  with  opposition,  he 

24* 


282  THOLUCK. 

betook  himself  to  the  relief  of  solitary  wretchedness.  .  . 
He  seemed  to  be  a  special  representative  of  heaven,  and 
to  impart  to  all  consolation  and  relief.  It  is  true,  I  had 
daily  held  intercourse  with  the  spirits  of  Augustin,  Me- 
lanthon,  Luther,  Francke  and  Spangenberg,  by  means  of 
their  writings ;  but  to  see  such  a  discipline  !  Be  as 
sured,  Julius,  that  what  I  have  learnt  from  this  '  living 
epistle  of  Christ,'  goes  far  beyond  books  and  systems." 
The  writer  then  gives  an  affecting  account  of  an  inter 
view  with  the  patriarch,  and  relates  his  almost  propheti 
cal  views  on  the  great  revival  which  should  soon  revolu 
tionize  the  theological  world  of  Germany,  and  the  dan 
gers  connected  with  it. 

"The  greater  the  crisis,"  said  the  patriarch,  "the 
more  needful  is  it  to  unite  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent 
with  the  simplicity  of  the  dove.  I  therefore  address 
you  as  such  an  one  who,  perhaps,  will  soon  be  engaged 
at  the  university  as  one  of  the  instruments  employed  by 
God  in  that  important  period.  The  work  of  God's  Spirit 
is  greater  than  either  you  or  the  majority  can  estimate. 
A  great  resurrection  morning  has  dawned.  Hundreds 
of  youths,  on  all  sides,  have  been  awakened  by  the  Spirit 
of  God.  Everywhere,  true  believers  are  coming  into 
closer  union.  Science  herself  is  becoming  again  the 
handmaid  and  friend  of  the  Crucified.  Civil  govern 
ments  also,  though  in  part  still  hostile  to  this  great 
moral  revolution,  from  a  dread  of  its  producing  political 
commotions,  are  many  of  them  favorable,  and  where  they 
are  not,  the  conflicting  energy  of  the  light  is  so  much 
the  stronger.  Many  enlightened  preachers  already  pro 
claim  the  Gospel  in  its  power ;  many  who  are  still  in 


THOLUCK.  283 

obscurity  will  come  forward.  I  see  the  dawn ;  the  day 
itself  I  shall  behold,  not  here,  but  from  a  higher  place. 
You  will  live  to  witness  it  below.  Despise  not  the  words 
of  a  grey-headed  old  man,  who  would  give  you,  with  true 
affection,  a  few  hints  relative  to  this  great  day.  The 
more  divine  a  power  is,  the  more  to  be  deprecated  is  its 
perversion.  When  those  last  times  are  spoken  of  in 
Scripture,  in  which  the  Gospel  shall  be  spread  over  the 
whole  world,  it  is  declared  that  the  truth  will  not  only 
have  to  contend  with  the  proportionably  more  violent 
counterworking  of  the  enemy,  but  also  with  a  great  mea 
sure  of  delusion  and  error  within  the  kingdom  of  light. 
Such  is  the  course  of  things,  that  every  truth  has  its 
shadow ;  and  the  greatest  truth  is  attended  by  the  greatest 
shadow.  Above  all  things  take  care  that  the  tempter  do 
not  introduce  his  craft  into  the  congregation  of  the 
faithful.  There  will  be  those  for  whom  the  simple  Gospel 
will  not  suffice.  When  a  man  has  experienced  the  for 
giveness  of  his  sins,  and  has  for  a  little  while  enjoyed 
the  happiness  of  that  mercy,  it  not  unfrequently  appears 
to  his  evil  and  inconstant  heart  too  humiliating  a  con 
dition  to  be  constantly  receiving  grace  for  grace.  There 
is  no  other  radical  cure  for  a  proud,  self-willed  heart, 
than  every  day  and  every  hour  to  repeat  that  act  by 
which  we  first  come  to  Christ.  Pray  that  you  may 
have  more  of  that  childlike  spirit  that  regards  the  grace 
of  your  Lord  as  a  perennial  fountain  of  life.  Especially 
avoid  the  error  of  those  who  seek  life  for  the  sake  of 
light,  who  would  make  religion  a  mere  stepping  stone  to 
intellectual  superiority.  Such  persons  will  never  attain 
to  a  vital  apprehension  of  divine  things ;  for  our  God  is  a 


284  THOLUCK. 

jealous  God,  and  will  be  loved  by  us  for  his  own  sake. 
The  intellectual  power,  the  mental  enlargement,  arising 
from  converse  with  the  great  objects  of  faith,  is  always 
to  be  regarded  as  a  secondary  and  supplementary  benefit 
to  that  which  it  is  the  immediate  object  of  the  Gospel 
to  bestow.  Despise  not  human  greatness  or  talent,  or 
ability  of  any  kind,  but  beware  lest  you  overvalue  it.  I 
see  a  time  coming — indeed  it  is  already  at  hand — in 
which  gifted  men  will  lift  up  their  voice  for  the  truth ; 
but  woe  to  the  times  in  which  admiration  and  applause 
of  the  speaker  shall  be  substituted  for  laying  to  heart 
the  truth  which  he  delivers  !  Perhaps  in  the  next  gene 
ration  there  will  be  no  one  in  some  parts  of  Germany 
who  will  not  wish  to  be  called  a  Christian.  Learn  to 
distinguish  the  spirits.  *  *  *  The  sum  of  my  exhorta 
tion  is  l  humility  and  love.' ' 

The  conversion  of  Tholuck  determined  his  call  to  the 
science  of  theology.  As  a  young  man  of  extraordinary 
talents  and  attainments,  he  was  soon  promoted  to  a 
professorship  of  Old  Testament  exegesis  in  Berlin,  in 
the  place  of  De  Wette,  who  was  deposed  on  account  of 
his  extenuation  of  the  guilt  of  Sand's  murder  of  Kotze- 
bue,  in  a  letter  of  consolation  to  his  mother.  He  devoted 
himself  at  first  with  special  zeal  to  the  study  of  oriental 
languages  and  literature,  and  wrote,  when  quite  a  youth, 
from  Arabic,  Persic  and  Turkish  manuscripts,  a  learned 
volume,  De  Suffismo  Persarum,  or  the  mystic  theosophy 
of  the  Persians,  (1821,)  which  was  followed  afterwards 
by  an  interesting  collection  of  translations  from  the 
mystic  poets  of  the  East,  (Bliithensammlung  oriental- 
ischer  Mystik.} 


THOLUCK.  285 

After  the  death  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Knapp,  professor 
of  dogmatics  and  exegesis  at  Halle,  Tholuck  was  ap 
pointed  his  successor  in  1826,  and  has  remained  in  this 
post  ever  since,  with  the  exception  of  a  short  residence 
at  Rome,  in  the  capacity  of  a  chaplain  of  the  Prussian 
embassy. 

The  University  of  Halle  was  at  that  time  in  a  most 
deplorable  condition  as  regards  orthodoxy  and  piety. 
Knapp  had  been  for  years  the  only  evangelical  teacher 
in  the  place,  and  although  his  learning  and  piety,  work 
ing  on  quietly,  were  not  without  a  blessing,  he  was 
thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  celebrity  of  Gesenius  and 
Wegscheider,  who  continued  almost  to  the  end  of  their 
lives,  to  be  the  guides  of  the  theological  students,  and 
systematically  disqualified  them  for  the  office  of  the 
Christian  ministry.  The  great  influence  of  Gesenius 
can  easily  be  accounted  for  by  his  distinguished  talent 
for  teaching,  his  entertaining  wit,  and  his  abiding  merits 
in  the  department  of  Hebrew  grammar  and  lexicography ; 
but  that  Wegscheider,  the  good  natured  and  morally  esti 
mable,  but  intolerably  dull,  dry  and  tedious  Wegscheider, 
could  gather  at  one  time  round  his  lectures,  hundreds  of 
admiring  students,  is  hardly  conceivable  at  this  time  of 
day.  He  was  doomed,  however,  to  experience  the  mor 
tification  of  outliving  his  own  reputation,  and  to  see  his 
audience  sink  down  from  five  hundred  to  half  a  dozen. 
For  this  was  the  number,  when  I  once,  from  curiosity, 
attended  one  of  his  insipid  lectures  on  dogmatics  in 
1840,  a  few  years  before  his  death. 

Tholuck's  position  was  at  first  exceedingly  difficult  in 
this  reign  of  rationalism.  He  was  scouted,  hated,  and 


286  TIIOLUCK. 

ridiculed  as  a  pietist,  mystic,  fanatic,  pharisee,  etc.  But 
he  persevered,  and  God  most  richly  blessed  his  labors. 
A  radical  revolution  has  been  wrought  in  Halle,  as  far 
as  theology  is  concerned.  Rationalism  has  entirely  dis 
appeared  from  the  theological  faculty,  and  there  is  not 
one  among  its  present  members  (I  mean  the  ordinary 
professors,  Tholuck,  Miiller,  Moll,  Hupfeld,  Jacobi,) 
who  may  not  be  regarded  in  all  essential  points  as 
orthodox,  and  evangelical  in  sentiment. 

Dr.  Tholuck  is  now  nearly  sixty  years  of  age.  His 
outward  appearance  is  as  modest  and  unprepossessing, 
although  not  so  original  and  startling,  as  that  of  the  late 
Dr.  Neander.  He  pays  no  attention  to  dress,  has  a 
sickly  frame,  is  of  middle  size,  strongly  bent  forward, 
meagre  and  emaciated,  extremely  nervous  and  irritable, 
and  at  times  almost  blind  in  consequence  of  excessive 
study.  Hence  he  needs  always  the  assistance  of  an 
amanuensis  in  reading  and  writing.  But  the  formation 
of  his  noble  forehead  and  the  expression  of  his  face  are 
highly  intellectual  and  spiritual,  and  his  voice  is  clear, 
deep  and  solemn.  It  is  only  by  severe  abstinence,  strict 
regularity,  daily  promenades  and  annual  excursions  to 
watering  places,  or  the  Swiss  mountains,  that  he  can 
keep  up  his  physical  existence.  But  he  possesses  great 
mastery  over  his  condition.  His  bodily  infirmities  rarely 
interfere  with  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  He  hardly 
ever  speaks  of  his  health,  and  dislikes  to  be  questioned 
about  it.  When  I  unexpectedly  met  him  on  my  way  to 
Halle,  in  1854,  on  the  fortifications  of  Magdeburg,  where 
he  was  just  attending  theological  examinations,  I  inquired 
first,  in  true  American  style,  after  the  state  of  his  health ; 


THOLUCK.  287 

but  he  said,  "  If  good  friends  meet  after  ten  years  of  sepa 
ration,  they  must  first  stare  at  each  other  in  speechless 
wonderment,"  and  then  he  embraced  me.  His  abrupt 
manner  and  eccentric  habits  may  repel  many  at  the  first 
acquaintance.  But  when  in  good  humor,  he  can  be 
exceedingly  agreeable  and  entertaining ;  for  he  is  natu 
rally  sociable  and  genial  in  a  high  degree,  and  has  an 
extraordinary  freshness  and  vivacity  of  mind. 

Tholuck  never  had  any  children.  His  first  wife  died 
of  consumption  soon  after  her  marriage.  He  then  was 
a  widower  for  nearly  ten  years,  and  nobody  supposed 
that  he  ever  would  marry  again.  But  by  some  romantic 
incident  he  became  acquainted  with  the  daughter  of 
Baron  von  Gemmingen,  an  esteemed  nobleman  of  Stutt 
gart,  (originally  of  Miihlhausen  in  Baden,)  who  with  his 
whole  family  had  become  a  convert  from  Romanism  to 
the  Protestant  faith ;  and  found  in  her  an  accomplished, 
amiable,  childlike  and  pious  companion,  who  proves  a 
comforting  angel  to  him  in  his  declining  years. 

One  of  the  most  striking  and  lovely  traits  of  his 
character  is  his  warm  attachment  to  students.  He  loves 
them  like  a  father.  He  cannot  live  without  them.  He 
not  only  invites  them  freely  to  his  house  and  table,  but 
is  almost  invariably  surrounded  by  two  or  three  of  them 
on  the  promenades  which  he  is  obliged  to  take  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  twice  a  day — before  dinner  and 
supper — in  spite  of  rain  and  mud  in  muddy  Halle.  His 
free  conversations  in  this  peripatetic  style  are  often 
more  interesting  and  stirring  than  his  lectures.  I  know 
no  teacher  who  can  deal  better  with  active  young  minds. 
He  makes  liberal  allowance  for  their  difference  of  con- 


288  THOLUCK. 

stitution  and  temper,  and  likes  a  collision  of  opinions,  if 
they  proceed  alike  from  an  honest  search  after  truth. 
His  object  is  not  to  make  disciples  and  convert  them 
to  a  particular  system — for  he  himself  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  a  system — but  to  rouse  their  slumbering 
faculties  and  to  put  them  on  the  track  of  independent 
research.  He  instructs  them  by  his  extensive  informa 
tion,  he  entertains  them  by  his  wit,  he  wins  by  his  affec 
tions,  and  edifies  by  his  piety.  Not  unfrequently  he 
exercises  the  students  by  odd  and  startling  questions  on 
remote  and  curious  topics,  in  German,  French,  English, 
Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  or  any  other  language  which 
they  may  understand.  If  it  was  the  proper  place,  I 
could  tell,  from  a  six  months'  residence  in  Tholuck's 
house,  some  amusing  anecdotes  of  most  original  ques 
tions  and  most  spicy  answers,  which  will  not  so  easily 
be  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  them.  But  there  is 
always  salt  in  his  conversation,  and  his  humor  rests  on 
a  serious  basis,  as  true  humor  always  does,  viz. :  on  the 
conviction  of  the  folly  of  human  wisdom,  the  weakness 
of  mortal  strength,  and  the  vanity  of  all  earthly  things. 
Tholuck  is  a  personal  favorite  also  with  students  and 
scholars  from  foreign  countries,  especially  from  England, 
Scotland  and  the  United  States.  By  his  perfect  mas 
tery  over  the  modern  languages  of  Europe,  the  natural 
quickness  and  versatility  of  his  mind,  his  extensive  per 
sonal  acquaintances,  and  his  frequent  vacation  trips  to 
England,  Switzerland  and  France,  he  is  admirably 
qualified  to  introduce  strangers  to  a  correct  knowledge 
and  appreciation  of  the  state  of  science  and  religion  in 
Germany.  He  is  very  fond  of  bringing  scholars  from 


THOLUCK.  289 

different  parts  of  the  world  together  and  trying  experi 
ments  on  their  conflicting  national  views  and  tastes. 
Thus,  for  instance,  he  would  ask  a  German  Lutheran  : 
"Does  this  tree  in  some  sense  belong  to  the  Deity?" 
After  receiving  a  qualified  affirmative,  he  would  turn  to 
a  Scotch  Presbyterian  or  a  New  England  Puritan,  with 
the  question:  "Does  this  not  strike  you  as  inexpressibly 
absurd?"  Which  is,  of  course,  assented  to  in  the  most 
unqualified  manner.  After  a  hearty  laugh,  he  would 
then  make  some  interesting  remarks  on  the  natural 
leaning  of  the  German  mind  and  the  Lutheran  specula 
tion  to  pantheism,  or  a  mixture  of  God  and  the  world, 
church  and  state,  scripture  and  tradition,  the  regenerate 
and  the  unregenerate,  and  the  constitutional  inclination 
of  the  English  mind  and  the  Reformed  theology  to  the 
opposite  extreme  of  a  dualistic  separation  of  the  divine 
and  human,  the  spiritual  and  temporal. 

Tholuck  is  an  admirable  teacher  and  lecturer,  fresh, 
interesting  and  suggestive,  and  free  from  that  tiresome 
pedantry  and  endless  "Grtindlichkeit,"  which  charac 
terizes  so  many  German  scholars.  He  uses  notes  and 
frequently  dictates,  but  branches  out  into  explanatory 
remarks  and  happy  illustrations  from  all  departments 
of  knowledge  and  experience. 

He  is  also  one  of  the  most  eloquent  pulpit  orators  of 
Germany.  He  preaches  every  other  week  to  the  mem 
bers  of  the  University  of  Halle,  and  occasionally  as 
guest  on  his  vacation  trips.  His  sickly,  but  spiritual 
and  solemn  appearance,  the  earnestness  of  his  manner, 
the  lightning  flashes  of  his  genius,  his  striking  rhetorical 
transitions  and  his  deep  religious  experience,  impart  to 
25 


290  THOLUCK. 

his  sermons,  of  which  several  volumes  have  been  pub 
lished,  a  high  degree  of  impressiveness.  His  "  Hours 
of  Christian  Devotion,"  wherein  he  opposes  a  pure 
evangelical  piety  to  the  rationalistic  sentimentality  of 
Zschocke's  widely  circulated  "Stunden  der  Andacht," 
are  among  the  best  devotional  works  of  modern  times. 

As  a  scholar,  Tholuck  is  distinguished  not  so  much 
by  depth  and  thoroughness  of  knowledge  in  any  single 
department,  as  by  the  astonishing  extent  and  variety  of 
erudition.  He  is  at  home  in  theology,  philology,  philo 
sophy,  history,  poetry ;  in  ancient  and  modern,  oriental 
and  occidental,  heathen,  Jewish,  Mohamedan,  and  Chris 
tian  literature. 

His  facility  in  acquiring  languages  is  truly  amazing. 
He  speaks  probably  more  languages,  ancient  and  mod 
ern,  than  any  man  living ;  and  was  only  surpassed  in 
this  respect  by  the  late  Cardinal  Mezzofanti,  who  is  said 
to  have  spoken  over  fifty  languages  and  dialects  with 
more  or  less  ease. 

In  most  of  his  writings  he  surprises  the  reader  with  a 
mass  of  quotations  gathered  from  the  remotest  sources ; 
although  they  have  at  times,  it  must  be  confessed,  little 
connection  with  and  shed  no  new  light  upon  the  subject 
in  hand,  and  make  the  impression  of  a  superfluous  dis 
play  of  learning.  "  Ne  quid  nimis."  Still  they  arc 
almost  always  interesting  and  suggestive. 

With  this  comprehensive  erudition  he  combines  great 
quickness,  originality,  and  freshness  of  mind,  and  a 
lively  imagination  almost  sufficient  to  make  the  fortune 
of  a  poet.  In  this  respect  he  has  a  certain  affinity 
with  Hasc,  the  Church  historian.  He  has  no  compact, 


THOLUCK.  291 

logically  defined  system  of  thought — a  want  which  is 
owing  partly  to  the  vivacity  and  impulsiveness  of  his 
genius.  But  he  abounds  in  ingenious  and  striking 
views  and  profound  hints,  which  stimulate  to  further 
inquiry. 

As  a  theological  writer,  Tholuck  has  devoted  his  best 
powers  to  Biblical  exegesis.  Here  he  achieved  his  most 
enduring  merits.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  redeem 
this  important  branch  of  theology  from  the  icy  grasp  of 
Rationalism,  to  imbue  it  with  a  believing  spirit,  and  to 
re-open  the  rich  exegetical  resources  of  fche  Fathers  and 
the  Reformers,  especially  John  Calvin,  whose  invaluable 
Latin  commentaries  on  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testa 
ment  excepting  the  Apocalypse,  he  republished  in  a 
cheap  and  convenient  form.  The  first  edition  of  his 
own  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which 
appeared  in  1824,  although  very  imperfect  and  unsatis 
factory,  struck  out  a  new  path,  and  marks  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  exegetical  literature  of  Germany. 
His  name  will  therefore  always  be  mentioned  in  con 
nection  with  that  of  his  friend  Olshausen,  amongst  the 
chief  regenerators  of  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Holy 
Word  of  God. 

He  frequently  fails  to  satisfy  the  reader  on  the  pre 
cise  meaning  of  the  most  difficult  passages,  and  after 
raising  his  expectation  to  a  high  degree,  breaks  off  ab 
ruptly  with  some  piquant  remarks  or  a  dazzling  fire 
work  of  rare  quotations  in  poetry  and  prose,  which  are 
better  calculated  to  shed  lustre  upon  his  own  learning 
than  upon  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  sacred  author. 
He  has  not  the  same  genial  and  harmonious  flow  of  a 


292  THOLUCK. 

profoundly  pious  and  speculative  spirit,  which  consti 
tutes  the  peculiar  charm  of  Olshausen's  volumes  on  the 
Gospels  ;  but  he  excels  him  in  learning.  He  lacks  the 
elegant  polish  and  finish  of  Liicke's  exposition  of  the 
writings  of  St.  John  ;  but  he  enters  more  deeply  into 
the  religious  element  of  the  holy  authors.  His  views 
on  inspiration  are  not  so  orthodox  as  those  of  Hengsten- 
berg  and  Stier ;  yet  he  bows  with  equal  reverence  and 
humility  before  the  inexhaustible  depth  and  wisdom  of 
the  Word  of  God,  whose  living  power  he  feels  in  his  heart. 
We  have  from  Tholuck's  pen  Commentaries  on  the 
Epistles  to  the  Romans,  the  Hebrews,  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  and  the  Psalms, 
several  of  which  have  been  translated  into  the  English, 
although  not  from  the  latest  and  best  editions.  They 
are  of  very  unequal  merit.  Some  are  intended  for  ripe 
scholars  and  permanent  use ;  others  for  students  only, 
and  will  be  superseded.  The  most  solid,  accurate,  and 
thorough  of  his  exegetical  works,  is  the  Explanation  of 
Christ's  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  (third  edition,  1845,) 
which  throws  a  flood  of  light — philological,  historical, 
and  dogmatical — on  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  chap 
ters  of  St.  Matthew,  and  labors  to  exhaust  the  subject 
as  far  as  possible.  It  will  therefore  always  be  resorted 
to  as  one  of  the  richest  mines  on  this  portion  of  the 
Scriptures.  Next  to  it  comes  his  Commentary  on  the 
Romans,  in  its  newly  elaborated  form,  (sixth  edition, 
1856,)  which  throws  the  first  editions  altogether  into 
the  shade.  His  work  on  the  Hebrews  is  not  near  as 
thorough  and  exhaustive  as  that  of  Dr.  Bleek,  who  spent 
twenty  years  of  indefatigable  study  on  this  wonderful 
epistle,  but  is  far  better  adapted  for  the  use  of  students. 


TIIOLUCK.  293 

In  close  connection  with  his  exegetical  labors  stands 
his  critical  and  apologetical  work  on  the  "  Credibility  of 
the  Gospel  History,"  which  is  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  triumphant  answers  to  the  notorious  "Leben  Jesu" 
of  Strauss,  and  abounds  in  pointed  remarks,  sparkling 
wit,  and  brilliant  erudition. 

Tholuck  published  for  several  years  a  journal  under 
the  title  "  Literarischer  Anzeiger,"  which  was  princi 
pally  devoted  to  reviews  of  new  theological  works. 
With  many  other  periodicals,  it  was  buried  in  the  flood 
of  the  Revolution  of  1848.  He  now  contributes  occa 
sional  papers  to  the  "  Deutsche  Zeitschrift"  of  Berlin, 
with  whose  theological  position  he  best  agrees. 

He  is  a  decided  friend  of  the  Evangelical  Union,  and 
deplores  the  confessional  and  denominational  quarrels 
which  have  broken  out  anew  in  Germany.  He  has 
grown  old  in  the  successful  conflict  against  infidelity, 
and  dislikes  to  see  the  war  with  the  foreign  enemy 
changed  into  an  internal  war  of  brothers.  He  is  con 
vinced,  however,  as  I  heard  from  his  own  mouth,  that 
the  now  prevailing  high  church  Lutheranism  is  merely 
on  the  surface  and  has  no  roots  in  the  heart  of  German 
Protestantism. 

In  his  most  recent  productions,  on  the  "  Spirit  of  the 
Lutheran  Divines  of  Wittenberg  in  the  Seventeenth  Cen 
tury,"  1852,  and  on  "  The  Academic  Life  of  the  Seven 
teenth  Century,  with  special  regard  to  the  Protestant 
Theological  Faculties  of  Germany,"  in  two  parts,  1853 
and  1854,  he  gives,  mostly  from  manuscript  sources,  a 
very  interesting  and  graphic,  but  by  no  means  favorable 
picture  of  the  palmy  days  of  orthodox  Lutheranism,  for 

25* 


294  THOLUCK. 

the  instruction  and  warning  of  those  cotemporaries  who 
would  so  zealously  revive  it  as  the  best  state  of  the 
Church,  without  considering  that  it  was  followed  by  the 
terrible  apostacy  of  Rationalism.  What  in  the  name 
of  common  decency,  shall  we  think,  for  instance,  of  such 
a  redoubted  and  invincible  champion  of  Lutheran  ortho 
doxy  and  implacable  enemy  of  Calvinists,  Zwinglians, 
Synoretists,  &c.,  as  Abraham  Calov,  of  Wittenberg, 
who,  Tholuck  tells  us,  piously  buried  not  less  than  five 
wives  and  thirteen  children,  and  yet  in  the  seventy- 
second  year  of  his  age,  four  months  after  the  death  of 
his  fifth  wife,  carried  to  the  altar  the  daughter  of  his 
equally  orthodox  colleague,  Quenstedt ! 

The  works  just  mentioned,  are  forerunners  simply  of 
an  extensive  History  of  Rationalism,  in  which  the  inde 
fatigable  and  ever  youthful  author  has  been  engaged  for 
some  years.  This,  when  completed,  will  be  a  most 
valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of  German  Protes 
tantism,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  extent  of  his  pre 
parations,  and  from  the  animated  sketch  of  the  same 
subject,  which  is  found  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Mis 
cellaneous  Essays. 


CHAPTER    XXV  11. 


OLSHAUSEN. 


Notice  of  his  Life — His  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament — Character  of 
his  Exegesis — The  Doctrine  of  Inspiration — Continuation,  and  English 
Translation  of  Olshausen. 


THE  late  Dr.  Hermann  Olshausen  was  born  in  1796, 
at  Oldesloe,  in  the  duchy  of  Holstein,  about  twenty-four 
miles  from  Hamburg.  He  studied  theology  in  the  Uni 
versities  of  Kiel  and  Berlin,  and  was  elected  professor 
at  Konigsberg,  in  1821,  where  he  taught  till  1834.  He 
then  followed  a  call  to  a  theological  professorship  at  Er- 
langen,  Bavaria,  and  died  in  1839,  in  the  prime  of  life. 
From  all  accounts  he  was  a  truly  lovely  man,  and  com 
bined  with  profound  scholarship  the  graces  of  social  re 
finement  and  devout  piety.  I  never  saw  him,  but  occa 
sionally  met  his  widow  at  Giebichenstein  and  at  Berlin, 
and  found  her  a  highly  accomplished  and  estimable 
Christian  lady,  who  holds  her  lamented  husband  in  sa 
cred  remembrance.  She  belongs  to  the  Moravian  com 
munity.  A  brother  of  Olshausen  lives  at  St.  Louis,  and 
is  the  author  of  a  work  on  Missouri,  and  a  history  of  the 
Mormons. 

Olshausen  is  one  of  the  most  illustrious  modern  re 
formers  of  Biblical  Exegesis.  His  Commentary  on  the 


296  OLSHAUSEN. 

New  Testament,  on  which  his  immortality  rests,  is  a 
work  of  real  genius  ;  it  made  a  decided  impression  when 
it  first  appeared,  and  will  exert  no  doubt,  for  many  ages 
to  come,  a  silent,  but  deep  and  lasting  influence  far  be 
yond  the  circle  of  readers,  for  which  it  was  originally 
intended.  Like  Neander's  church  history,  it  has  be 
come  already,  we  may  say,  a  standard  work  of  English 
and  American,  as  well  as  German  literature,  and  will 
soon  enjoy  a  wider  circulation  in  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  than  in  the  land  of  its  birth. 

To  write  a  commentary  that  would  be  interesting  as 
well  as  instructive,  and  invite  the  reader  not  merely  to 
occasional  reference,  but  to  connected  study,  is  a  most 
difficult  task.  Olshausen  succeeded  in  it  better  than 
most  of  the  commentators,  and  ranks  in  this  respect 
with  Chrysostom,  Calvin,  Tholuck,  and  Lucke.  His 
work  is  eminently  readable,  free  from  learned  pedantry, 
and  moves  on  in  easy,  graceful  dignity. 

But  the  principal  merit  and  greatest  charm  of  Ols- 
hausen's  exegesis,  lies  in  its  spirit.  He  excels  beyond 
most  commentators,  in  what  we  may  call  the  art  of  or 
ganic  reproduction  of  the  sacred  text,  and  the  explana 
tion  of  Scripture  by  Scripture.  The  philological  por 
tions  are  often  too  brief  and  unsatisfactory  for  the  ad 
vanced  scholar ;  but  he  pays  the  more  careful  attention 
to  the  theological  exposition,  enters  into  the  marrow  of 
religious  ideas,  and  introduces  the  student  to  the  spirit 
and  inward  unity  of  the  divine  revelation  in  its  various 
stages  of  development  under  the  old  and  new  dispensa 
tion.  He  has  an  instinctive  power  of  seizing,  as  if  by 
a  sacred  sympathy,  the  true  meaning  of  the  inspired 


OLSHAUSEN.  297 

writer,  and  bringing  to  light  the  hidden  connections  and 
transitions,  the  remote  allusions  and  far  reaching  bear 
ing  of  the  text. 

There  is  nothing  mechanical  and  superficial  about 
him.  He  is  always  working  in  the  mines,  and  digging 
at  the  roots.  Sometimes  his  mysticism  carries  him  be 
yond  the  limits  of  sound  and  sober  criticism.  But  there 
is  a  peculiar  charm  in  his  mysticism,  and  even  its  occa 
sional  mistakes  are  far  preferable  to  that  cold,  dry  and 
lifeless  exegesis  which  weighs  the  spiritual  and  eternal 
truths  of  God  in  the  scales  of  Aristotle's  logic,  Kiihner's 
grammar,  and  "VVahl's  dictionary.  A  Fritzsche  and 
Strauss  may  sneer  at  some  expositions  of  Olshausen; 
but  the  pious  student  will  read  him  with  delight  and 
profit,  and  regard  the  spiritual  depth  and  the  warm  glow 
of  a  profoundly  pious  heart,  as  the  sweetest  charm  and 
highest  recommendation  of  his  work.  He  approaches 
the  Bible,  with  devout  reverence,  as  the  Word  of  the 
living  God,  leads  the  reader  into  the  sanctissimum,  and 
makes  him  feel  that  here  is  the  gate  of  heaven. 

It  is  true,  Olshausen  is  no  believer  in  a  literal,  me 
chanical  inspiration  as  taught  by  the  Protestant  divines 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  as  held  to  this  day  by 
most  of  the  popular  English  commentators.  "We  readily 
admit  that  he  may  have  made  now  and  then  an  unne 
cessary  concession  to  neology,  which  was  still  in  power 
when  he  commenced  the  publication  of  his  commentary. 

But  such  cases  are  only  of  trifling  moment  and  never 
touch  the  substance  of  a  fact,  or  any  article  of  faith 
and  practice.  And  then,  with  all  respect  for  the  theory 
of  literal  inspiration,  it  seems  to  us  that  it  leaves  out  of 


298  OLSHAUSEN. 

sight,  and  cannot  account  for,  the  human  element  in  the 
origin,  preservation,  and  propagation  of  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures,  which  stares  the  critic  in  the  face  from  every  di 
rection.  The  error  of  rationalism  does  not  lie  in  calling 
attention  to  the  human  form  of  the  Bible,  but  in  deny 
ing  its  divine  contents,  and  in  ignoring  the  glory  of  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father,  which  shines  through  the 
veil  of  the  flesh  full  of  grace  and  of  truth.  "  The  Word 
became  flesh."  This  may  be  applied  to  the  written  as 
well  as  the  personal  Word.  The  Holy  Scriptures  are 
strictly  divine,  and  strictly  human,  from  beginning  to 
end.  The  two  natures  are  here  united  in  one  organic 
whole.  The  Holy  Spirit  lived,  thought,  moved  in,  and 
spoke  through,  the  prophets  and  apostles,  but  as  con 
scious,  intelligent,  free  agents,  not  as  blind  and  passive 
machines. 

The  interpreter,  then,  must  bring  to  light  the  real  hu 
manity,  as  well  as  the  real  divinity  of  the  Bible  ;  he  must 
let  the  several  books  grow  out  of  the  twofold  source, 
and  view  them  in  their  organic  connection  with  the  his 
torical  relations,  the  peculiar  temper  and  spirit  of  the 
writer.  Such  exegesis  instead  of  diminishing  our  faith 
in  the  Scriptures,  is  calculated  to  strengthen  it  and  to 
put  it  on  a  firmer  basis  against  which  the  attacks  of  in 
fidelity  can  have  no  force.  In  this  way  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles  become  living  productions  to  our  generation ; 
and  although  they  had  in  every  case,  specific  wants  and 
well  defined  objects  in  view,  they  will  be  found  to  be  at 
the  same  time,  the  most  universal  books  in  the  world, 
Even  the  most  minute  references  to  concrete  circum 
stances  of  the  time  of  composition  are  applicable  to  the 


OLSHAUSEN.  299 

general  wants  and  conditions  of  the  human  heart.  We 
do  not  assert  that  Olshausen  or  any  other  German  com 
mentator,  does  full  justice  to  both  sides  of  the  Bible, 
but  we  must  maintain,  that  this  is  the  true  aim  of  every 
interpreter  who  would  satisfy  both  the  wants  of  faith, 
and  of  theological  science. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Olshausen  did  not  live  to 
complete  his  commentary  on  the  New  Testament.  We 
would  have  been  especially  pleased  to  see  an  exposition 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  Epistles  of  John,  and 
the  Revelation,  from  his  pen.  After  a  long  interruption, 
one  of  his  ablest  and  most  learned  disciples,  Ebrard,  in 
connection  with  Wiesinger,  has  undertaken  the  comple 
tion  of  the  work.  But  I  know  of  no  living  divine  who 
could  infuse  that  mystic  depth  and  flow  of  soul,  which 
constitutes  the  peculiar  attraction  of  Olshausen's  volumes, 
especially  the  first  two,  on  the  Gospels. 

The  Edinburgh  translation  of  this  commentary,  which 
forms  a  part  of  Clark's  Foreign  Theological  Library,  is 
now  in  course  of  republication  at  New  York,  under  the 
editorial  care  of  Professor  Kendrick,  of  Rochester,  who 
revised  the  translation,  embodied  Ebrard's  improvements 
from  the  last  edition  of  the  original,  with  occasional 
notes  of  his  own,  where  he  thought  it  necessary  to  dis 
sent  from  the  author,  and  added  Olshausen's  valuable 
tract  on  the  Genuineness  of  the  Writings  of  the  New 
Testament  (translated  by  Fosdick,)  as  an  appropriate 
introduction.  The  first  two  volumes  which  appeared  in 
1856  and  '57,  were  welcomed  with  great  favor  by  our 
leading  theological  organs,  and  we  have  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  Olshausen  will  become  more  and  more  a  favo 
rite  guide  for  American  students  of  the  Word  of  God. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 


HENGSTENBERG. 

His  Position  and  Influence — His  Moral  Courage  and  Independence — His 
Education  and  Conversion — Hengstenberg  as  a  Lecturer — His  theolo 
gical  Stand-point,  and  uncompromising  Hostility  to  Rationalism — His 
Relation  to  English  and  American  Orthodoxy — His  Critical  and  Exe- 
getical  Works  on  the  Old  Testament — Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse 
— His  Evangelical  Church  Gazette,  the  leading  Organ  of  the  Orthodox 
Party  in  the  Prussian  Church — His  Correspondents — His  recent  Progress 
in  High  Church  Confessionalism — Present  Relation  to  the  Union  and  the 
Church  Question. 

DR.  ERNST  WILHELM  HENGSTENBERG,  Professor  of 
Old  Testament  Exegesis  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  is 
one  of  the  most  unpopular  and  yet  one  of  the  most  im 
portant  and  influential  men  in  the  kingdom  of  Prussia. 
He  leads  the  extreme  right  wing  of  the  orthodox  party 
in  the  Established  Church,  and  is  the  uncompromising 
opponent  of  all  rationalists  and  semi-rationalists,  all 
latitudinarians  and  liberals.  He  is  simply  professor, 
author  and  editor  of  a  semi-weekly  church  gazette,  and 
holds  no  seat  in  the  Consistorium  and  Oberkirchenrath, 
like  his  colleagues,  Nitzsch,  Twesten  and  Strauss ;  nor 
does  he  ever  preach.  But  in  an  unofficial  way  his 
power  has  been  widely  felt  for  the  last  few  years  in  the 
administration  of  ecclesiastical  affairs.  He  is  the  confi 
dential  adviser  of  Herr  von  Raumer,  the  present  minis- 


HENGSTENBERG.  301 

ter  of  public  worship  and  instruction  in  that  kingdom, 
who  rarely  makes  an  important  appointment  without  his 
consent.  It  has  been  said  that  Hengstenberg,  Ludwig 
von  Gerlach  and  Stahl,  are  the  three  popes,  who,  since 
the  Revolution  of  1848,  rule  the  Church  and  State  of 
Prussia.  At  all  events  they  have  much  more  real  power 
and  deeper  influence  than  Herr  von  Manteuffel  and  the 
other  ministers  of  the  Crown. 

This  position  Hengstenberg  owes  to  his  learning,  and 
above  all  to  his  character  and  principles.  Being  mar 
ried  into  a  noble  family  and  living  in  comfortable  cir 
cumstances,  he  associates  freely  with  the  highest  classes 
of  society  in  Berlin.  But  he  never  courts  the  favor,  or 
flatters  the  pride  of  the  men  in  power.  Even  his  bitter 
est  enemies  must  acknowledge  his  manly  independence 
and  consistency.  He  is,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term, 
a  theological  character,  ruled  by  principle,  and  subor 
dinating  all  temporal  considerations  to  his  conscientious 
convictions  of  truth. 

He  shrinks  from  no  opposition,  no  matter  from  what 
quarter  it  may  arise,  and  hesitates  not  to  attack  corrup 
tion  in  the  highest  places,  whenever  he  feels  it  his  duty 
to  do  so.  Thus  for  instance  he  wrote  a  series  of  severe 
articles  against  the  order  of  the  Freemasons,  and  de 
nounced  it  as  unchurchly,  deistic  and  infidel  in  its  ten 
dency,  although  the  Prince  of  Prussia,  heir  presumptive 
to  the  crown,  is  one  of  its  chief  patrons.  Still  more 
recently  he  came  out  in  the  same  spirit  of  fearless  inde 
pendence,  against  duelling,  with  reference  to  the  unfor 
tunate  Hinkeldey-Rochow  affair,  which  created  a  great 
stir  in  the  nobility  and  aristocracy.  He  wants  kings  of 
26 


302  IIENGSTENBEKG. 

God's  grace  like  David,  but  also  court  preachers  and 
professors  like  Nathan  and  Elijah. 

As  a  lecturer  he  generally  disappoints  the  expecta 
tions  of  those  who  hear  him  for  the  first  time.  For 
instead  of  seeing  an  athletic  figure,  looking  like  a  lion, 
and  speaking  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  they  will  find  a  mid 
dle  sized,  thin,  delicately  built,  refined  looking,  neat  and 
well  dressed  gentleman,  reading  slavishly  from  his  manu 
script,  in  a  half-singing,  high  silvery,  monotonous  tone. 
But  what  he  says,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  says  it, 
is  exceedingly  positive  and  dogmatical.  He  knows  also, 
how,  by  private  intercourse,  to  attract  students  to  his 
person,  and  still  more  to  his  views.  He  is  an  excellent 
judge  of  character,  far  better  "than  the  good  natured 
Neander  was,  who  suffered  himself  so  often  to  be  de 
ceived.  He  seldom  recommends  a  young  man,  who  does 
not  afterwards  realize  his  expectations.  In  his  friend 
ships  he  is  perfectly  reliable. 

Hengstenberg  is,  I  believe,  a  Westphalian  by  birth, 
and  the  son  of  a  Reformed  clergyman.  He  was  born  in 
1802,  and  studied  philology,  especially  the  oriental  lan 
guages,  in  the  University  of  Bonn.  His  first  appearance 
before  the  public  was  as  a  translator  of  the  metaphysics 
of  Aristotle.  After  the  completion  of  his  university 
course,  he  spent  a  short  time  at  Basel  as  the  private  tutor 
of  Dr.  Stiihelin,  now  professor  of  oriental  literature  and 
Old  Testament  Exegesis  in  the  university  of  that  city. 
In  1824  he  graduated  as  licentiate  of  theology  at  Berlin, 
and  settled  as  Privatdocent  in  the  university.  In  1826 
he  was  already  promoted  to  an  extraordinary,  and  some 
years  afterwards  to  an  ordinary  professorship  of  Old 


HENGSTENBERG.  303 

Testament  exegesis  and  to  a  seat  in  the  theological 
faculty.  He  soon  acquired  a  commanding  influence  in 
the  Church  at  large  by  the  publication  of  the  "  Evan- 
gelische  Kirchenzeitung,"  which  he  commenced  in  1827, 
and  continues  to  edit  to  this  day. 

I  am  not  acquainted  with  the  particulars  of  his  change 
of  views,  which  seems  to  have  been  very  sudden,  as  in 
the  case  of  Calvin.  The  study  of  the  Bible  was  proba 
bly  the  chief  means.  It  is  said  that  while  at  Bonn,  he 
belonged  to  the  liberal  and  progressive  class  of  students. 
But  in  Berlin  he  took  at  once  his  place  amongst  the 
most  evangelical  and  orthodox  divines  of  the  younger 
generation.  When  he  arrived  there,  a  revival  of  Chris 
tian  theology  and  piety  had  already  commenced  in  the 
higher  classes.  He  associated  at  that  time  with  Nean- 
der,  Tholuck,  Olshausen,  Baron  von  Kottwitz,  Count 
Voss,  von  Bethmann  Hollweg,  the  Gerlach  family,  and 
other  leaders  of  the  rising  evangelical  party,  who  no 
doubt  contributed  to  shape  his  views,  although  he  is  too 
much  their  contemporary,  and  too  independent  in  cha 
racter  to  be  called  the  pupil  of  any  of  them. 

With  Schleiermacher's  system  he  seems  never  to  have 
had  the  least  sympathy,  and  he  permitted  one  of  his 
correspondents  (Steiger)  to  assail  it  in  his  journal  as 
semi-rationalistic  and  pantheistic.  This  attack  against 
an  older  colleague,  together  with  the  somewhat  indeli 
cate  but  well  deserved  exposure  of  the  frivolities  of 
Gesenius'  lectures  at  Halle,  so  offended  Neander,  that 
he  publicly  broke  off  his  former  (merely  nominal)  con 
nection  with  the  "  Evangelische  Kirchenzeitung,"  in 
1830,  and  ever  afterwards  occupied  a  somewhat  antago- 


304  HENGSTENBERG. 

rustic  position  to  Hcngstenberg,  who  was  altogether  too 
sharp  and  uncompromising  for  his  mild  and  conciliatory 
temper.  But  personally,  the  colleagues  always  esteem 
ed  each  other  as  scholars  and  Christians,  and  after  Ne- 
ander's  death,  Hengstenberg,  in  the  preface  to  the 
Kirchenzeitung  of  1851,  gave  a  grateful  testimony  to 
Ills  excellent  character  and  immortal  merits.  He  cor 
rectly  remarks  there,  that  the  theological  differences 
between  them  arose  from  the  fact  that  Neander  started 
from  Schleiermacher,  while  he  being  younger,  had  the 
advantage  to  commence  with  the  more  advanced  position 
of  Neander,  from  which  he  then  proceeded  to  a  still 
more  decidedly  Scriptural  and  churchly  stand- point. 

Dr.  Hengstenberg's  theology  has  throughout  a  polem 
ical  and  apologetical  character.  Of  all  the  modern 
German  divines  he  is  the  most  orthodox  champion  of  the 
genuineness,  integrity,  inspiration  and  divine  authority 
of  the  Bible,  especially  the  Old  Testament,  against  the 
attacks  of  modern  skepticism.  In  some  respects  he  re 
minds  us  of  the  early  Fathers  in  their  conflict  with  the 
heathen  persecution  and  heretical  perversion  of  Chris 
tianity.  But  while  Justin  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Tertullian, 
etc.,  were  mostly  and  directly  concerned  with  doctrines, 
Hengstenberg's  proper  field  is  Biblical  literature ;  and 
while  the  former  appealed  to  Catholic  tradition  as  much 
as  to  the  Scripture,  as  a  bulwark  against  heretics,  the 
latter  stands  on  decidedly  Protestant  ground,  i.  e.,  the 
absolute  supremacy  of  the  Bible ;  although,  of  course,  he 
makes  due  account  of  the  patristic  testimonies  and  the 
faith  of  the  Church  concerning  the  canonical  books.  He 
has,  indeed,  been  charged  recently  with  a  Romanizing 


HENGSTENBERG.  305 

tendency.  But  this  is  certainly  an  error  as  regards  the 
rule  of  faith,  and  all  the  positive  articles  of  the  Pro 
testant  creed.  It  is  true,  however,  that  he  always  re 
garded  the  Catholic  Church  as  a  confederate  of  the 
Evangelical  Church  in  opposition  to  rationalism  and 
pantheism,  and  hence  he  subordinates  the  Romish  con 
troversy  to  the  more  fundamental  controversy  between 
faith  and  infidelity,  Christ  and  Anti-Christ. 

Hengstenberg  is  not  a  philosophical  and  systematic 
divine,  but  an  eminent  critic  and  controversialist.  He 
is  not  an  originator  of  new  ideas,  but  a  skillful  advocate 
of  old  ones.  He  is  not  a  man  of  brilliant  genius,  but 
of  very  solid  talent,  profound  learning,  strong  reasoning 
power,  and  clear  direct  common  sense.  He  has  little 
imagination  and  artistic  taste,  but  a  keen  understanding 
and  unbending  will.  His  theology  rests  on  practical 
experience  as  well  as  scientific  investigation,  and  is  per 
vaded  throughout  by  a  serious  and  energetic  piety.  Al 
though  he  professes  now  the  distinctive  Lutheran  tenets, 
he  has  unquestionably  a  striking  constitutional  resem 
blance  to  Calvin,  more  so  at  least,  than  any  other  Ger 
man  divine,  and  owes  a  great  deal  to  the  study  of  his 
works,  especially  his  incomparable  Commentaries,  of 
which  he  republished  the  one  on  Genesis  (1838.)  Had 
he  been  born  and  raised  in  Scotland  or  New  England, 
he  would  no  doubt  be  a  most  rigorous  Calvinist. 

The  Calvinistic  features  of  his  mind  and  moral  char 
acter,  in  connection  with  his  high  views  on  inspiration 
and  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  account  for 
the  fact  that  Hengstenberg  is  better  understood  and 
more  generally  appreciated  in  England  and  America, 

26* 


306  HENGSTENBERG. 

than  almost  any  other  German  theologian.  Most  of  his 
exegetical  and  critical  works  are  now  translated  and  em 
bodied  in  Clark's  Foreign  Library.  He  would  be  a 
decided  favorite  and  standard  writer  among  Presbyte 
rians  and  Puritans,  if  it  was  not  for  his  high-church 
views  on  the  sacraments  and  on  church  authority,  which 
he  developed  more  recently — although  not  in  his  com 
mentaries — and  which  diminished  his  popularity  in  this 
direction,  while  they  may  perhaps  have  increased  it 
among  Episcopalians.  To  this  must  be  added  his  views 
on  the  Sabbath,  the  middle  state,  and  the  Romish  ques 
tion,  in  which  he  differs  considerably  from  Puritanism. 

His  political  or  high-state  principles  harmonize  still 
less  with  those  generally  entertained  by  Christians  of 
the  English  tongue,  or  even  in  France  and  in  Switzer 
land.  Although  he  cannot  help  respecting  England  and 
America  for  the  sake  of  their  religion,  yet  he  evidently 
dislikes  liberal,  especially  republican  institutions.  His 
sympathies  are  altogether  with  an  absolute  jure-divino 
monarchy.  He  opposed  the  liberal  movements  of  1848 
and  1849,  without  the  least  qualification,  as  a  diabolical 
outbreak,  and  contributed  as  much  as  any  man  to  restore 
the  old  order  of  things  in  Prussia. 

Thus  we  may  say,  he  is  in  some  respects  the  most 
Puritanic  and  Americanizing,  and  in  other  respects  the 
most  un-Puritanic  and  anti- American  divine  of  Ger 
many. 

To  do  justice  to  Hengstenberg  as  a  scientific  divine, 
we  must  go  back  thirty  years,  to  a  time  when  rational 
ism  was  at  the  zenith  of  its  power  and  influence,  and 
sapped  the  very  foundations  of  evangelical  Protestant- 


HENGSTENBERG.  307 

ism,  the  authority  and  inspiration  of  the  holy  Scrip 
tures.  His  theological  career  begun  in  an  inexorable 
antagonism  to  this  great  and  powerful  modern  heresy. 
He  stood  up  for  the  divine  origin  and  authority  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  faith  of  the  Church  against  the  destruc 
tive  criticism  of  its  most  learned  modern  assailants.  He 
met  them  not  only  with  all  the  weapons  of  logic  and 
learning,  but  traced  also  their  views  to  the  moral  de 
pravity  of  the  heart  and  its  secret  hostility  to  truth  and 
righteousness,  as  the  deepest  source  of  all  forms  of 
heresy  and  infidelity.  Thus,  without  divesting  the  con 
troversy  of  its  scientific  and  literary  character,  he  gave 
it  at  the  same  time  a  moral  and  practical  aspect,  and 
mixed  with  his  arguments  the  prophetical  threats  of 
God's  wrath  upon  his  enemies  and  lukewarm  friends. 

This  is  the  principal  reason  why  he  exposed  himself 
to  more  bitter  hatred,  calumny,  and  slander,  than  any 
other  divine  of  the  present  century.  The  Rationalists 
regard  him  as  a  Protestant  Torquemada,  who  in  another 
age  and  under  similar  circumstances  would  have  sent  as 
many  heretics  to  the  auto-da-fe's,  as  the  first  Inquisitor- 
General  of  Spain.  Even  Hase,  who  has  too  much  spirit 
and  taste  to  sympathize  with  the  ordinary  rationalism  of 
a  Rb'hr  and  Schulz,  forgets  his  usual  candor  and  impar 
tiality,  when  he  comes,  in  his  Church  History,  to  Heng- 
stenberg,  whose  Kirchenzeitung  he  characterizes,  as  em 
bracing  "  the  greatest  variety  of  religious  elements, 
from  the  genuine  piety  of  a  Luther  or  Spener,  full  of 
joyful  faith  in  a  God  born  of  a  virgin,  down  through  the 
gradations  of  mere  party  zeal,  pride,  and  mental  imbe 
cility,  till  we  reach  the  hypocrisy  which  abuses  the  Ian- 


308  HENGSTENBERG. 

guage  of  ardent  piety  as  a  means  to  selfish  ends,  or  even 
as  a  cloak  of  crimes."  All  this  is  highly  exaggerated. 
We  are  firmly  convinced,  from  long  and  close  observa 
tion,  of  the  purity  and  integrity  of  Hengstenberg's  char 
acter  ;  at  the  same  time  we  have  not  a  particle  of  doubt, 
that  had  he  lived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  or  even  in 
the  seventeenth,  he  would  have  approved  in  the  most 
unqualified  terms  of  the  burning  of  Servetus. 

This  unyielding  firmness  and  severity  of  character, 
which  reminds  one  at  times  of  the  zeal  of  the  Old  Tes 
tament  prophets,  was  no  doubt  necessary  and  of  essen 
tial  service  to  German  theology  in  the  revolutionary 
crisis  through  which  it  had  to  pass.  There  must  be 
Lutheran  as  well  as  Melanthonian,  Pauline  as  well  as 
Johannean  characters  in  the  church.  His  moral  courage 
in  view  of  the  fiercest  literary  persecution  is  worthy  of  all 
praise,  and  will  alone  secure  for  him  the  admiration  and 
esteem  of  posterity.  He  stood  like  a  rock  in  the  midst 
of  the  fluctuations  of  ever  changing  opinions  and  here 
sies,  and  we  have  no  doubt,  that,  if  circumstances  re 
quired  it,  he  would  not  shrink  a  moment  from  sealing 
his  faith  with  his  blood. 

At  the  same  time,  we  must  admit  that  rationalism  as 
sumes  with  Hengstenberg  a  very  wide  range,  and  em 
braces  also  the  various  forms  of  undecided  and  incon 
sistent  supernaturalism,  and  all  the  medium  positions 
which  have  their  mission  and  relative  importance  as  well 
as  his  unyielding  orthodoxy.  He  is  constitutionally  op 
posed  to  all  compromises ;  he  knows  no  middle  course 
between  faith  and  unbelief,  orthodoxy  and  heresy.  He 
attacks  as  enemies  of  Christ,  all  who  are  not  openly  his 


HENGSTENBERG.  309 

friends.  He  even  denounced  the  Gustavus  Adolphus 
Society,  and  prophesied  its  speedy  dissolution,  because 
it  did  not  start  at  once  with  a  strictly  confessional  basis. 
But  it  succeeded  after  all.  and  does  a  good  work — his  op 
position  notwithstanding.  He  makes  great  account  of 
the  word :  "  He  that  is  not  with  me,  is  against  me,  and 
he  that  gathereth  not  with  me,  scattereth  abroad."  But 
he  forgets  that  the  same  Saviour  says  on  another  occa 
sion  what  is  equally  true,  and  equally  worthy  to  be  kept 
in  mind  when  we  judge  of  others:  "  He  that  is  not 
against  us,  is  on  our  part."  His  zeal  often  degenerates 
into  harshness  and  injustice.  His  theology  breathes 
more  the  spirit  of  the  Old,  than  of  the  New  Testament. 
His  polemics,  although  always  clothed  in  earnest  and 
decent  language,  often  assume  an  unnecessary  degree  of 
bitterness  and  wield  too  freely  the  weapons  of  sarcastic 
scorn.  No  wonder,  that  he  alienated  from  him  not  only 
the  whole  school  of  Schleiermacher,  but  also  that  of 
Neander. 

Hengstenberg's  writings  extend  more  or  less  over  the 
whole  field  of  Biblical  literature.  He  lectures  also  on 
theological  encyclopedia  and  several  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  his  Kirchenzeitung  touches  upon  all  the 
important  ecclesiastical  questions  of  the  day. 

But  his  main  strength  and  most  lasting  merits  lie  in 
the  critical  defence  and  explanation  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment  as  the  revelation  of  the  only  true  and  living  God. 
It  is  well  known  that  rationalism  aimed  its  most  unsparing 
blows  at  this  portion  of  the  canon.  Eichhorn,  Bertholdt, 
De  Wette,  in  his  earlier  period,  Gesenius,  Bohlen,  Len- 
gerke,  Yatke,  and  others,  vied  with  each  other  in  cutting 


310  HENGSTENBERG. 

to  pieces  the  venerable  writings  of  Moses  and  the  pro 
phets,  with  the  knife  of  learned  and  acute,  but  arbitrary 
and  irreverent  criticism,  and  in  thus  representing  them 
as  productions  of  a  later  age,  unworthy  of  credit.  This 
destructive  process  was  soon  afterwards  applied  to  the 
gospels  and  epistles  of  the  New  Testament.  Strauss 
resolved  the  whole  history  of  the  God-man  as  recorded 
by  St.  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John,  into  a  mythical 
dream,  and  Baur  went  so  far  as  to  deny  the  apostolical 
origin  of  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  with  the 
exception  of  four  epistles  of  Paul  and  the  Revelation  of 
John.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  such  criticism  struck  at  the 
root  of  Christianity,  which  must  stand  or  fall  with  the 
divine  inspiration  and  authority  of  its  original  records. 
The  question  then  here  raised  was  one  of  life  and  death, 
especially  for  Protestantism  which  regards  the  canonical 
Scriptures  as  its  bulwark,  as  the  only  infallible  and  suffi 
cient  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

It  was  against  these  assaults  of  modern  scientific 
infidelity  that  Hengstenberg,  in  the  three  volumes  of 
Beitrage,  or  "  Contributions  to  the  Introduction  to  the 
Old  Testament,"  (1831,  &c.)  defended  the  genuineness 
and  integrity  of  some  of  the  most  important  books  of 
the  Jewish  canon,  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  (given  up 
even  by  Bleek  as  vaticinia  post  eventum,)  Zechariah, 
and  the  Pentateuch.  It  must  be  admitted,  that  he  dis 
poses  of  many  difficulties  rather  by  dogmatic  assertion 
and  sophistic  evasion,  than  by  satisfactory,  solid  argu 
ment.  But  upon  the  whole,  these  "Contributions"  are  a 
triumphant  vindication  of  the  orthodox  view,  and  the 
most  learned  and  acute  investigations  ever  made  in  this 


HENGSTENBERG.  311 

field.  The  opponents  were  at  first  disposed  proudly  to 
ignore  them  as  vain  attempts  to  restore  obsolete  absur 
dities  ;  but  with  all  the  affectation  of  contempt  they  felt 
the  destruction  which  his  learning  and  arguments  caused 
amongst  their  ranks,  and  lived  to  see  most  of  their  own 
critical  novelties  growing  obsolete,  to  be  assigned  at  last 
to  the  history  of  the  aberrations  of  the  human  mind. 

Still  more  important  than  his  Beitrage,  which  were 
originally  designed  to  extend  over  all  the  assailed  por 
tions  of  the  Jewish  canon,  is  the  "  Christology  of  the 
Old  Testament,"  commenced  in  1829,  in  three  volumes, 
and  now  re-published  since  1854  in  a  second  thoroughly 
revised  edition,  and  translated  by  Dr.  Meyer  of  Edin 
burgh,  for  Clark's  Foreign  Library.  It  contains  a  full 
exposition  of  all  the  Messianic  prophecies  from  the  first 
promise  after  the  fall  to  the  extinction  of  prophecy,  with 
constant  polemical  reference  to  the  modern  rationalistic 
literature. 

At  first  his  view  of  prophecy  was  very  external  and 
mechanical.  But  in  the  progress  of  the  work,  and  espe 
cially  in  the  new  edition,  it  underwent  considerable  modi 
fications,  and  became  more  spiritual  and  organic.  He 
now  recognizes  the  idea  of  a  gradual  development  of 
the  Messianic  promise  in  keeping  with  the  wants  and 
capacities  of  the  people  to  whom  it  was  given.  It  seems 
impossible  that  most  English  divines  should  still  shut 
their  eyes  to  this  law,  which  pervades  all  created  life, 
all  the  works  of  God.  We  need  only  examine  impar 
tially  the  respective  passages  of  Genesis,  to  see  that 
there  is  a  gradual  progress  of  the  Messianic  prophecy 
as  regards  clearness  and  distinctness  from  the  general 


312  HENGSTENBERG. 

promise  of  a  victory  of  the  woman's  seed  over  the  ser 
pent,  to  the  patriarchal  hope  of  a  blessing  that  should 
proceed  from  Abraham's,  and  more  particularly  from 
Isaac's  posterity  to  the  nations  of  the  earth;  and  from 
this,  to  the  promise  of  the  Lawgiver  and  Shiloh  from  the 
tribe  of  Judah.  In  the  first  case  we  have  simply  the 
assurance  of  the  fact  of  a  future  victory,  without  any 
hint  as  to  the  manner  of  its  accomplishment ;  in  the  se 
cond,  we  are  pointed  to  the  particular  nation,  and  in  the 
third  to  the  tribe,  from  which  it  should  proceed,  with 
the  additional  declaration  that  salvation  thus  promised 
would  be  comprehended  not  in  a  nation,  or  an  abstract 
power,  but  in  an  individual.  In  David's  time,  we  learn 
the  family  of  the  future  Messiah  ;  and  the  later  prophets, 
Isaiah  especially,  reveal  to  us  his  character  and  the 
form  and  circumstances,  even  the  sufferings  through 
which  he  would  accomplish  the  redemption  of  Israel  not 
only,  but  of  the  whole  world. 

With  all  his  unrelenting  opposition  to  the  neological 
theories,  Hengstenberg  does  not  entirely  concur  with 
the  old  Protestant  orthodoxy,  which  overlooks  the  gra 
dual  progress  of  the  revelation  from  its  incipient  stages 
to  its  culmination  point  in  the  incarnation  of  the  eternal 
Word.  A  still  stronger  proof  of  the  difference  is  fur 
nished  by  his  little  book  on  the  prophecies  of  Balaam 
(1842.)  For  here  he  gives  up  the  literal  interpretation 
altogether,  and  resolves  the  speaking  of  the  ass  and  the 
appearance  of  the  angel  into  a  vision  which  occurred  to 
Balaam.  Also  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Song  of  Solo 
mon,  (1853,)  while  he  revives  and  defends  the  allegorical 
interpretation,  he  yet  modifies  the  old  view,  which  regarded 


HENGSTENBERtt.  313 

it  as  a  direct  representation  of  the  union  of  Christ  with 
his  Church,  and  conceives  it  to  be  a  prophetic  picture  of 
the  relation  of  the  literal  Israel,  the  bride,  to  the  Messiah 
before  and  after  his  coming. 

The  most  valuable  exegetical  work  of  Hengstenberg 
next  to  his  Old  Testament  Christology,  is  an  extended 
Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  in  four  volumes,  which  has 
been  translated  into  English,  and  furnished  the  ground 
work  besides  for  the  more  popular  and  condensed  work 
of  Dr.  A.  Alexander,  of  Princeton,  on  the  same  subject. 
Here  the  polemical  character  recedes  more  into  the  back 
ground,  and  gives  place  to  a  considerable  amount  of 
practical  and  edifying  observations. 

More  recently  this  learned  divine  has  also  entered  the 
domain  of  New  Testament  exegesis,  but  with  far  less 
success.  His  commentary  on  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John,  which  might  as  well  have  been  left  untranslated 
for  the  author's  popularity  in  England  and  America, 
contains  a  great  deal  indeed  that  is  permanently  valua 
ble,  and  has  in  many  respects  shed  new  light  upon  its 
prophetic  mysteries.  But  he  permitted  the  political  and 
social  convulsions  of  the  years  1848  and  '49,  during 
which  the  work  was  written,  to  have  too  much  influence 
upon  the  interpretation.  His  own  view  of  the  millen 
nium  is,  to  say  the  least,  fully  as  unsatisfactory  as  the 
theories  of  Herder,  Eichhorn,  Ewald,  Liickc,  Ziillig,  etc., 
which  he  treats  with  so  much  contend-  For  he  regards 
it  as  something  past,  and  dates  ^  from  the  downfall  of 
German  heathenism,  to  the  i*ndelity  and  the  revolutions 
of  our  age,  thus  identitying  it  substantially  with  the 
reign  of  popery  and  the  duration  of  the  German  empire ! 
27 


314  HENGSTBNBERG. 

He  may  be  right  in  rejecting  the  anti-popery  scheme  of 
interpretation,  which  identifies  the  beast  with  Christian 
Rome.  But  to  commence  the  millennial  reign  of  Christ 
and  the  captivity  of  Satan  with  the  rise  of  the  papal 
power  in  the  eighth  century,  to  extend  it  through  the 
darkest  ages  without  making  any  distinction  between 
them  and  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  and  to  termi 
nate  it  with  the  revolutions  of  1848,  when  we  are  told 
Satan  was  let  loose  again,  is  too  absurd  a  notion  to 
commend  itself  to  the  good  sense  of  the  Christian  com 
munity.  It  is  also  already  sufficiently  refuted  by  sub 
sequent  events,  so  that  we  doubt  whether  Hengstenberg 
himself  would  be  willing  still  to  call  the  present  period 
of  reaction  and  growing  confessionalism  the  age  of  Gog 
and  Magog. 

Upon  the  whole,  we  are  far  from  regarding  Hengsten 
berg  as  a  model  interpreter.  He  is  somewhat  external 
and  mechanical  in  his  conceptions,  bitter  in  his  polemics, 
categorical  and  dogmatic  in  tone,  diifuse  and  careless  in 
style.  But  with  all  these  defects  he  stands  first  amongst 
the  restorers  of  a  believing  exegesis  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment. 

Since  he  broke  the  ice,  a  number  of  younger  men, 
some  his  direct  pupils,  as  Havernick,  (who  died,  alas  ! 
too  early,)  and  others,  more  independent  co-laborers,  as 
Ranke,  the  toother  of  the  celebrated  historian,  Delitzsch 
and  Hofmann  iu  Erlangen,  Baumgarten  in  Rostock, 
Oehler  in  Tubingen,  Keil  and  Kurtz  in  Dorpat,  and 
Bahr  in  Carlsruhe,  have  lUlowed  and  created  a  rich  and 
valuable  literature  relating  to  Uie  elucidation  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  a  genuine  revelation  of  the  only  true  God 


HENGSTENBERG.  315 

and  a  preparation  of  the  New  Testament,  which  is  con 
cealed  in  the  Old,  while  the  Old  is  revealed  in  the  New. 

In  conclusion  we  must  add  a  few  remarks  on  Ileng- 
stenberg  as  editor  of  the  "  Evangelische  Kirchenzei- 
tung,"  and  leader  of  the  orthodox  party  in  the  estab 
lished  Church  of  Prussia.  This  practical  part  of  his 
activity,  though  less  known  in  America,  is  fully  as  im 
portant  and  influential  for  Germany  as  the  one  we  have 
more  fully  considered. 

He  founded  this  semi- weekly  organ  in  1827,  so  that 
it  has  already  reached  the  fifty-eighth  volume.  It  can 
hardly  be  called  a  Church  Gazette,  for  it  has  given  very 
little  news  during  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years.  Some 
times,  indeed,  we  read  in  it  extended  accounts  of  the 
condition  of  the  church  in  Hesse,  or  Baden,  or  Saxony ; 
but  they  have  nearly  always  a  polemical  object  in  view, 
and  are  calculated  to  give  offence  and  create  a  sensation. 
Some  of  these  reports  make  capital  out  of  scandal,  and 
assume  a  revolutionary  attitude  against  the  church  au 
thorities,  e.  g.,  in  Baden,  which  is  quite  inconsistent 
with  Hengstenberg's  doctrine  on  the  duty  of  absolute 
submission  to  the  powers  that  be. 

The  chief  object  of  the  Kirchenzeitung  is  to  discuss, 
in  an  earnest  and  thorough,  yet  popular  style,  the  lead 
ing  religious  and  ecclesiastical  questions  of  the  day  for 
the  benefit  of  ministers  and  educated  laymen.  This  is 
generally  done  with  a  very  high  degree  of  ability  and 
power.  Many  articles  belong  to  the  best  order  of 
polemical  and  ascetic  writing.  The  editor  gives  his  own 
views  in  full  in  the  "  Vorwort"  which  occupies  the 
greater  part  of  the  January  numbers,  and  which  is 


316  HENGSTENBERG. 

called  by  his  admirers  Hengstenberg's  Thronrede.  He 
generally  commences  it  with  the  solemn  application  of 
some  prophetic  portion  of  Scripture  to  the  times ;  then 
he  reviews  the  principal  ecclesiastical  events  of  the  pre 
ceding  year,  and  gives  his  deliberate  judgment  on  the 
pending  questions. 

But  the  journal  owes  its  reputation  fully  as  much,  if 
not  more,  to  a  most  able  corps  of  anonymous,  yet  well 
known  correspondents.  Amongst  these  we  mention  the 
late  Otto  von  Gerlach,  and  Steiger,  who  assisted  in 
founding  it ;  Tholuck,  and  Lange,  who  contributed  many 
of  the  most  spicy  and  interesting  articles,  but  had  no 
connection  with  it  for  several  years  past ;  Huber,  the 
author  of  Sketches  of  Spain,  and  Ireland,  and  a  History 
of  the  English  Universities  ;  Stahl,  the  eloquent  lawyer 
and  advocate  of  Lutheranism ;  Ludwig  von  Gerlach,  a 
statesman  of  brilliant  genius,  who  can  defend  the  oddest 
propositions  with  the  greatest  plausibility ;  Goschel, 
the  speculative  New  Lutheran,  who,  in  his  former  days, 
labored  with  more  ingenuity  than  truth  to  prove  Hegel 
and  Gothe  to  have  been  orthodox  Christians ;  Yilmar, 
the  eloquent  champion  of  Hessian  Puseyism ;  Leo,  the 
genial  historian  and  fierce  polemic,  who  fully  comes  up 
to  his  name.  For  the  last  two  or  three  years,  however, 
Hengstenberg's  paper  has  declined  considerably  in  viva 
city,  freshness  and  interest. 

The  "  Kirchenzeitung"  started  from  the  pietistic 
school,  and  had  at  first  the  support  and  good  wishes  of 
all  who  labored  and  prayed  for  the  revival  of  piety  and 
vital  Christianity  in  Germany.  It  also  stood  decidedly 
on  the  basis  of  the  evangelical  Union,  as  established 


HENQSTENBERG.  317 

in  Prussia  since  1817,  and  made  little  or  no  account  of 
the  differences  between  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed 
confessions.  It  regarded  both  as  essentially  agreed  in 
all  the  fundamental  articles  of  Christianity,  and  equally 
opposed  to  the  rationalistic  and  infidel  spirit  of  the  age, 
which  it  felt  itself  called  upon  to  combat. 

But  in  the  course  of  time  the  journal  assumed  a 
more  exclusive  confessional  tone.  The  Vorwort  of  1844 
marked  a  turn  in  this  respect.  Since  the  revolutions  of 
1848  it  became  still  more  decided  in  this  direction,  so 
that  it  should  now  be  called  the  organ  of  the  Lutheran 
party  in  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Prussia,  instead  of 
Evangelical  Church  Gazette.  He  himself  admits  the 
change,  and  remarks  in  the  Vorwort  to  the  year  1856, 
p.  48 :  "  The  editor  of  the  Evangelical  Church  Gazette 
has  often  been  charged  with  inconsistency  in  his  rela 
tion  to  the  Union.  In  reply  to  this  we  have  to  say  that 
retractations  were  never  considered  a  disgrace  in  the 
Church.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  gift  of  God  to  be 
pliable  and  capable  of  learning  in  advanced  years." 

The  change  consists  principally  in  two  points,  the  con 
version  from  the  Calvinistic  to  the  Lutheran  view  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  conviction  that  the  Lutheran 
Confession  must  be  guarded  in  all  its  rights  within  the 
United  Church  of  Prussia.  With  this  understanding  he 
professes  still  to  adhere  to  the  Union  as  explained  in  the 
royal  declaration  of  March  6,  1852.  The  whole  ten 
dency  of  his  journal,  however,  whether  it  be  his  inten 
tion  or  not,  looks  evidently  towards  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union  and  the  restoration  of  confessional  Lutheranism. 

His  opposition,  it  is  true,  is  not  so  much  directed 
27* 


318  HENGSTENBERG.    . 

against  the  Reformed  church,  as  against  those  Unionists 
who  seek  to  amalgamate  the  two  churches,  and  to  absorb 
the  old  Confessions  in  a  more  liberal  creed,  or  no-creed. 
This  loose  latitudinarianism  and  semi-rationalistic  liber 
alism  injures  the  cause  of  the  Union  more  than  its  ene 
mies  do ;  and  against  it  Hengstenberg  defends  the  good 
right  of  the  reformatory  confessions  which  should  never 
be  given  up  until  we  have  something  better  and  more 
perfect  in  their  place,  which  our  distracted  age  seems 
to  be  unable  to  produce.  The  Reformed  church  he  still 
professes  highly  to  esteem  in  its  proper  character,  espe 
cially  for  its  energetic  piety  and  self-denying  zeal  for 
Christ's  kingdom  at  home  and  abroad.  But  he  thinks 
it  has  no  proper  national  root  in  Germany,  except  on 
the  frontiers,  and  has  not  developed  there  its  peculiar 
excellences  as  in  Scotland.  He  goes  with  the  Lutheran 
party  because  it  defends,  in  his  view,  a  higher  degree  of 
orthodoxy,  and  promises  to  be  a  stronger  national  bul 
wark  against  infidelity. 

We  readily  admit  that  the  Prussian  Union  labors 
under  very  serious  defects,  and  is  any  thing  but  com 
pleted.  As  a  State-Church  measure,  especially,  it  is 
simply  an  experiment  of  doubtful  success.  But  the 
resuscitation  of  Old  Lutheranism  or  any  other  system, 
which  has  been  tried  in  a  former  age,  and  been  found 
wanting,  will  certainly  not  heal  the  defects  or  better 
satisfy  the  wants  of  the  age.  No,  (Germany  and  ,the 
Church  generally  need  a  plentiful  effusion  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  will  bring  about  a  new  reformation  and 
open  a  new  chapter  in  history. 

Hengstenberg's  power  and  influence  has  never  been 


HENGSTENBERG.  319 

greater  than  at  the  present  time.  But  after  all,  the 
high  church  confessionalism,  or  Lutheran  exclusiv- 
ism,  has  no  deep  root  in  the  people,  and  makes  itself 
exceedingly  obnoxious  to  all  the  friends  of  liberty 
by  its  close  alliance  with  the  political  reaction  that  has 
set  in  since  1849.  He  has  not  only  denounced  in  most 
unsparing  terms  the  recent  revolutionary  movements, 
without  any  qualification,  but  even  frequently  and  bit 
terly  attacked  the  worthy  Lutheran  pastors  in  Hoi- 
stein,  because  they  opposed,  not  from  revolutionary  pro 
pensity,  but  simply  for  conscience  sake,  and  on  the 
ground  of  ancient  rights,  the  anti-German  regulations 
of  despotic  Denmark,  and  in  consequence  of  it  forfeited 
their  offices  and  emoluments.  It  is  evident  that  Dr. 
Hengstenberg  has  no  sympathy  whatever  with  religious 
and  political  freedom,  which  must  necessarily  result 
from  Protestantism,  wherever  it  is  fully  and  consistent 
ly  developed.  By  opposing  all  liberal  movements,  he 
opposes  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  tendency  of  history, 
and  helps  to  provoke  a  new  and  more  fearful  revolution, 
which  will  sweep  away  all  the  artificial  restorations  of 
by-gone  forms  of  life. 

And  here  is  the  defect  in  the  high-churchism  of  Heng 
stenberg  and  his  school.  The  churchly  tendencies  which 
are  indeed  needed,  should  not  flow  in  the  narrow  chan 
nel  of  Lutheran  denominationalism,  or  any  ism  or  sect, 
but  be  as  broad  and  comprehensive  as  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  and  in  harmony  with  the  deepest  wants  and 
movements  of  the  age  that  hates  despotism  and  loves 
freedom  in  Church  and  State. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 


T  W  E  S  T  E  tf . 

The  Progress  of  German  Theology  in  the  Direction  of  Orthodoxy — Schleier- 
macher,  Neander,  Tholuck,  and  Hengstenberg  in  their  mutual  Relations 
— The  Systematic  Divines  of  the  Evangelical  Union-School — Dr.  Twes- 
ten— His  Personal  Character  and  Social  Habits — His  Work  on  Dogma 
tics — His  Standpoint  and  Merits — "His  View  of  Religion — His  Relation 
to  Schleiermacher  and  the  Union. 

SCHLEIERMACHER,  Neander,  Tholuck,  and  Hengsten 
berg  represent  as  many  steps  in  the  scale  of  rapid  pro 
gress,  which  the  evangelical  theology  of  Germany  has 
made  within  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It 
was  a  steady  movement  from  an  ideal  Christianity  of 
religious  speculation  to  the  Scriptural  faith,  and  from 
the  Scriptural  faith  to  churchly  orthodoxy,  yet  all  within 
the  strict  limits  of  the  Protestant  principle. 

Schleiermacher  first  built  a  bridge  over  the  abyss  that 
divides  the  dismal  swamp  of  skepticism  from  the  sunny 
hills  of  faith,  and  kindled  again  the  flame  of  religion 
and  of  the  Christian  consciousness.  Neander  enriched 
this  new  theology  with  the  experience  of  a  pious  heart, 
and  the  treasures  of  church  history  of  all  ages  and  na 
tions.  Tholuck  and  his  friend  Olshausen  refreshed  and 
invigorated  it  at  the  fountain  of  the  New  Testament  as 
the  word  of  truth  and  life.  All  felt  the  importance  and 
revived  the  feeling  of  Christian  union  and  communion, 


TWESTEN.  321 

but  they  remained  comparatively  indifferent  to  the  "  pil 
grim-dress"  of  particular  confessions  and  symbols,  and 
greatly  preferred  the  life  of  Christianity  to  the  forms  of 
the  Church.  Hengstenberg  took  his  firm  stand  from 
the  start  on  the  sure  word  of  prophecy  as  an  external 
testimony  and  authority,  defended  especially  the  claims 
of  the  Old  Testament,  so  utterly  disregarded  or  neg 
lected  by  Schleiermacher  and  his  school,  and  drew 
around  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible  and  the  life  of 
Christianity  more  and  more  closely  the  wall  of  the  Lu 
theran  creed.  Theology  soared  at  first  so  high  into  the 
airy  regions  as  to  lose  sight  of  the  terra  firma  of  the 
Bible  and  the  Church,  but  has  now  exchanged  the  wings 
for  the  strait-jacket  of  denominational  orthodoxy,  and 
is  in  danger  of  suffering  from  want  of  breath  and  fresh 
air.  Thus  we  have  here  a  retrogression  rather  than  a 
progression,  a  contraction  instead  of  an  expansion.  But 
it  must  not  be  forgotten,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  re 
straints  of  law  and  authority  are  necessary  to  the  proper 
enjoyment  of  freedom,  and  that  every  healthy  progress 
in  the  Church  is  conditioned  by  a  revival  of  the  faith  of 
the  past,  especially  by  a  return  to  the  ever  fresh  foun 
tain  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  as  the  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century  amply  proves. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider  another  succession  of 
divines,  whose  force  lies  in  systematic  divinity,  espe 
cially  in  dogmatics.  Twesten,  Nitzsch,  and  Miiller 
started  from  Schleiermacher,  even  more  so  than  this  can 
be  said  of  Tholuck  and  Olshausen,  but  went  likewise  far 
beyond  his  standpoint  to  a  more  positive  and  orthodox 
position.  Yet  they  still  adhere  to  the  principle  of  the 


322  TWESTEN. 

Union,  and  arc  its  chief  doctrinal  representatives.  A 
younger  generation  of  didactic  divines,  Martensen,  Tho- 
masius,  Hofmann,  Kalmis,  and  Fhilippi  went  beyond 
this  standpoint  into  what  they  regard  as  the  unconquer 
able  tower  of  symbolical  Lutheranism,  although  they 
themselves  cannot  deny  altogether  the  effect  of  the 
stages  of  development  which  lie  between  the  composi 
tion  of  the  Formula  Concordiae  and  Hofmann's  Schrift- 
beweis,  and  which  never  can  be  entirely  undone. 

Dr.  August  Detlev  Christian  Twesten  is  a  native  of 
Gliickstadt,  the  capital  of  the  Duchy  of  Holstein,  a 
thoroughly  German  Province — which  belongs  to  Den 
mark  in  body  only,  not  in  soul.  Born  in  1789,  and  for 
some  time  professor  of  languages  in  one  of  the  colleges 
of  Berlin,  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  followers,  and  an 
intimate  personal  friend  of  Schleiermacher.  After  his 
death  in  1834,  he  was  called  from  the  University  of 
Kiel,  where  he  had  been  professor  since  1814,  to  suc 
ceed  him  in  the  chair  of  systematic  divinity.  He  is  also 
Oberconsistorialrath  and  member  of  the  Oberkirchen- 
rath,  where  he  displays  considerable  administrative  ca 
pacities. 

Coming  after  the  greatest  theological  genius  of  mo 
dern  times,  his  position  was  a  very  difficult  one,  as  in 
the  more  recent  case  of  Lehnerdt,  who  succeeded  Nean- 
der  as  professor  of  church  history.  If  Twesten  failed 
to  satisfy  the  expectations  of  the  theological  public  at 
large — before  which  he  very  rarely  appears  in  the  shape 
of  books — he  has  proved  a  faithful  and  conscientious 
teacher  in  his  immediate  field  of  labor.  If  he  falls  far 
behind  his  predecessor  in  natural  endowments  and  com- 


TWESTEN. 


manding  influence,  he  certainly  has  greatly  the  advan 
tage  of  him  in  soundness  and  orthodox^^figWHPO.tV**  * 

Dr.  Twesten  is  a  gentleman  of  courteous  manners, 
kindly  disposition,  and  fine  social  qualities.  Although 
a  close  student,  he  mixes  freely  with  the  world  in  his 
leisure  hours.  He  resembles  in  this  respect  Schleier- 
macher,  and  has  none  of  the  awkward  eccentricities  and 
unpractical  traits  of  Neander.  Every  Thursday  even 
ing,  and  on  special  occasions,  he  gathers  a  large  class  of 
the  very  best  literary  society  of  Berlin  around  his  hospit 
able  board  in  the  Commandanten  Strasse,  on  the  Donhofs- 
Platz.  I  gratefully  remember  many  an  instructive  and 
delightful  hour  I  spent  there  in  conversation  with  some 
of  the  most  learned  men  and  most  accomplished  ladies 
of  Europe.  He  does  not  confine  himself  to  his  profession 
at  all  ;  ministers,  philosophers,  historians,  naturalists, 
philologists,  antiquarians,  travellers,  general  scholars, 
and  artists  are  equally  welcome  on  these  social  gather 
ings.  There  are  few  men  who  have  a  more  extensive, 
and  at  the  same  time  more  solid  and  accurate  informa 
tion,  than  Twesten.  He  converses  well  on  almost  any 
topic.  He  does  not  speak  English  himself,  but  takes 
much  interest  in  English  affairs ;  and  when  I  saw  him 
last,  his  daughter  was  engaged,  and  is  married  I  sup 
pose  by  this  time,  to  the  Prussian  Correspondent  of  the 
London  Times. 

As  a  writer,  he  is  one  of  the  least  prolific  of  all  the  more 
eminent  German  divines.  This  is  owing  partly  to  a  certain 
timidity  and  conscientiousness.  He  is  unwilling  to  pub 
lish  anything,  which  he  has  not  first  thoroughly  searched 
and  mastered,  and  for  which  there  seems  to  him  no 


824  TWESTEN. 

urgent  need.  He  wrote  an  analytical  logic,  a  critical 
edition  of  the  three  oecumenical  creeds  and  the  unal 
tered  Augsburg  Confession,  essays  on  Flacius  Illyricus, 
on  Schleiermacher's  Ethics,  &c. 

But  his  only  theological  work  of  any  size  are  the 
Lectures  on  the  Dogmatics  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  and  even  they  are  not  completed.  The  first 
volume,  containing  the  introductory  chapters  on  reli 
gion,  revelation,  inspiration,  the  authority  and  inspira 
tion  of  the  Scriptures,  the  use  of  reason,  the  history  of 
dogmatic  literature,  appeared  in  1826,  and  went  through 
several  editions  since.  The  second  volume,  dedicated 
to  his  friend  and  colleague,  Dr.  Neander,  was  delayed 
till  1837,  and  embraces  only  the  doctrine  of  God,  the 
Holy  Trinity,  the  creation  and  preservation  of  the  world, 
and  angelology.  The  remaining  volumes,  with  the  an 
thropology,  christology,  ecclesiology,  soteriology  and 
eschatology,  have  not  made  their  appearance  yet,  and 
as  caution,  solidity  and  conscientiousness  are  wont  to 
grow  with  years  and  experience,  they  will  perhaps  never 
be  finished.  The  author  must  feel,  too,  that  the  times 
have  left  the  work  in  its  original  plan  behind,  and  that 
he  himself  could  not  complete  it  in  the  spirit  and  form 
in  which  he  commenced  it.  Schleiermacher's  system  is 
now  a  matter  of  history,  and  De  Wette's  compend,  which 
he  followed,  as  to  order  and  arrangement,  is  thrown  out 
of  sight  by  Hase's  Hutterus  Redivivus,  and  similar 
manuals.  Nevertheless,  even  in  their  unfinished  con 
dition,  the  dogmatics  of  Twesten  have  great  and  abiding 
excellences. 

For  he  is  perhaps  the  clearest  thinker   and  writer 


TWESTEN.  325 

amongst  all  the  systematic  divines  of  Germany.  He 
possesses  the  gift  of  didactic  exposition  and  analysis  in 
an  eminent  degree.  His  learning  is  always  accurate, 
minute  and  thoroughly  digested ;  his  style  transparent, 
smooth  and  polished.  The  English  reader,  to  whom  the 
original  is  not  accessible,  may  form  a  conception  from 
the  translation  of  his  chapter  on  the  Trinity,  which  Pro 
fessor  H.  B.  Smith,  of  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York,  furnished  a  few  years  ago  for  the  pages  of 
the  Bibliotheca  Sacra. 

His  standpoint  maybe  briefly  indicated  thus — Schleier- 
macher's  system  passing  over  into  Lutheran  orthodoxy, 
under  a  modernized  form  ;  or  the  Lutheran  scholasticism 
of  the  seventeenth  century  revived,  enlarged  and  liberal 
ized  by  the  scientific  influence  of  Schleiermacher  and 
the  tolerant  spirit  of  the  Evangelical  Union. 

In  the  first  volume  Twesten  starts  from,  and  ably 
defends,  Schleiermacher's  view  of  the  nature  of  religion, 
namely,  that  it  is  primarily  neither  knowledge,  nor 
action,  neither  theory,  nor  practice,  but  feeling,  the 
feeling  of  absolute  dependence  upon  God  operating 
afterwards,  it  is  true,  upon  both  the  other  mental 
powers  of  thought  and  volition.  This  definition  views 
religion  merely  under  its  subjective  aspect,  and  is  liable 
besides  to  the  very  same  objection  of  one-sidedness,  which 
Schleiermacher  urges  with  irresistible  force  against  the 
other  two,  which  place  the  peculiar  essence  of  religion, 
either  exclusively  in  the  intellect,  (modus  Deum  cognos- 
cendi,)  or  as  one-sidedly  in  the  will.  The  former  or 
intellectual  theory  identifies  it  with  knowledge,  and  thus 
makes  the  degree  of  piety  to  depend  upon  the  amount  of 
28 


326  TWESTEN. 

theoretical  insight  and  theological  scholarship,  which  is 
evidently  contradicted  by  everyday  experience.  Even 
the  modification  of  this  view,  which  lays  the  main  stress 
not  upon  religious  knowledge  as  such,  but  upon  the 
correctness  and  soundness  of  knowledge,  (orthodoxy,)  is 
false,  since  orthodoxy  has  often  been  united  with  ungod 
liness,  and  heresy  and  ignorance  with  piety.  The  exclu 
sively  practical  view  on  the  other  hand,  would  resolve 
religion  into  mere  morality,  as  was  done  in  fact  by  the 
Stoics,  by  Kant,  and  many  of  the  modern  Unitarians, 
and  thus  destroys  its  specific  character  and  mission  alto 
gether.  Religion  properly  understood  and  carried  out, 
must  needs  lead  to  virtue  and  holiness,  but  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  morality  in  the  world,  which  has  no  con 
nection  with  piety  whatever.  Schleiermacher's  ingenious 
theory  of  feeling  avoids  these  extremes,  it  is  true,  but 
falls  into  the  error  of  confining  religion  too  much  to  the 
emotions  and  affections,  or  rather  to  an  immediate  con 
sciousness  of  the  heart,  the  degree  of  which  is  as  uncer 
tain  an  index  of  true  piety  as  the  amount  of  knowledge 
of  divine  things,  or  a  correct  moral  deportment. 

T.  D.  Morell,  who  thinks  that  "  no  man  has  ever  pur 
sued  with  greater  penetration  of  mind  and  earnestness  of 
spirit  the  pathway  of  a  divine  philosophy,"  than  Schleier- 
macher,  has  recently  endeavored  in  his  "Philosophy  of 
Religion,"  to  naturalize  his  conception  of  religion  in 
England.  But  in  doing  so,  he  made  a  serious  mistake  by 
translating  Schleiermacher's  schlechthiniges  Abhangig- 
keits-Grefuhl,  "the  absolute  feeling  of  dependence," 
instead  of  "the  feeling  of  absolute  dependence,"  thus 
misplacing  the  absolute  and  connecting  it  with  feeling, 
which  is  always  relative  and  conditioned. 


TWESTEN.  327 

We  hold  that  religion  in  the  subjective  sense,  espe 
cially  under  its  most  complete,  i.  e.,  the  Christian  form, 
lies  back  of  the  three  psychological  faculties,  thought, 
volition,  and  feeling,  in  the  deepest  centre  of  man's  per 
sonality,  and  is  as  comprehensive  as  life  itself.  It  is  the 
higher,  spiritual  life  of  man,  the  life  of  Christ  in  us,  the 
union  and  communion  of  the  whole  soul  and  all  its 
faculties  with  God,  the  fountain  of  life  and  peace,  and 
tends  to  penetrate  and  to  sanctify  equally  all  the 
parts  and  powers  of  the  natural  man,  head,  heart,  and 
will,  and  eventually  even  the  body  itself.  It  is  more 
over  not  only  a  life  of  dependence  upon  God,  as  Schleier- 
macher  has  it,  who  shows  here  his  connection  with 
Calvin's  supralapsarianism,  but  fully  as  much  a  life  of 
freedom  in  God,  according  to  the  Augustinian  maxim, 
Deo  servire  vera  Ubertas  est,  or  as  some  ancient  liturgies 
beautifully  express  it,  "  Thy  service,  0  God,  is  perfect 
freedom." 

But  Twesten,  while  agreeing  in  the  main  with  Schleier- 
macher's  theory  of  feeling,  lays  more  stress  than  his  mas 
ter,  on  the  element  of  knowledge,  especially  correct  and 
sound  knowledge  of  religion,  or  agreement  with  the  faith 
of  the  church  as  expressed  in  her  doctrinal  standards. 
This  is  the  point  which  connects  him  with  the  older  Pro 
testant  theology. 

This  appears  more  fully  in  the  second  volume  of  his 
Dogmatics,  which  succeeded  the  first  after  an  interval 
of  eleven  years.  Here  he  falls  back  upon  the  Lutheran 
scholasticism  of  the  seventeenth  century,  whose  principal 
champions  were  Gerhard,  Hutter,  Calov,  Quenstedt,  and 
Baier.  But  he  surrounds  its  skeleton  of  acute  logical 


328  TWESTEN. 

definitions  and  distinctions  with  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
modern  culture  and  taste,  and  inspires  into  it  a  new  life. 
In  the  place  of  Schleiermacher's  pantheistic  tendency, 
his  Sabellian  view  of  the  Trinity,  his  skepticism  concern 
ing  the  existence  of  good  and  bad  angels,  his  denial  of 
the  devil,  we  have  here  the  orthodox  views  on  these  sub 
jects,  clearly  stated  and  ably  defended.  The  same  im 
provements,  and  such  they  certainly  are  in  a  material 
point  of  view,  may  be  expected  from  the  remaining 
volumes,  should  they  ever  be  published.  The  fact  is 
that  the  peculiar  heresies  of  Schleiermacher  have  been 
long  thrown  aside  by  his  ablest  disciples,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  he  would  do  the  same,  could  he  lead  his 
life  over  again  in  our  own  age. 

The  predominance  of  the  Lutheran  element  is  very 
natural  in  Twesten.  For  in  Holstein,  his  native  pro 
vince,  Lutheranism  enters  without  a  rival  into  the  life- 
blood  of  the  people.  There  labored  his  friend,  the 
celebrated  preacher  Harms,  than  whom  no  man  of  mo 
dern  times  bore  a  stronger  constitutional  resemblance  to 
the  great  Reformer  of  Wittenberg,  and  whose  95  Theses 
were  a  timely  and  successful  translation  of  the  famous 
Protestant  Manifesto  of  1517. 

But  with  all  his  conviction  of  the  essential  truth 
of  Lutheranism  in  its  catholic  and  denominational 
doctrines,  Twesten  is  perfectly  free  from  sectarian 
bigotry  and  exclusiveness.  This  is  implied  already  in 
his  relation  to  Schleiermacher  who  never  denied  his 
Reformed  origin ;  and  in  his  position  as  theological 
teacher  in  a  Church  and  University,  where  the  Lutheran 
Confession  is  united  with  the  Reformed.  We  quote 


TWESTEN.  329 

here  from  his  preface  to  the  second  volume,  which  clearly 
defines  his  position  to  Lutheranism  and  the  Union : — 

"It  was  the  great  error  of  the  older  Lutheran  theolo 
gians — but  not  of  the  Lutheran  alone,  but  more  or  less 
of  all  alike — that  they  would  only  suffer  trees  of  one 
kind  to  grow  within  the  enclosure  of  the  Church,  at 
least  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  No  one  can  more  deeply 
regret  than  I  do  that  the  two  evangelical  churches  sepa 
rated  from  each  other ;  that  the  Melanthonian  type  was 
excluded ;  that  a  Calixtus,  an  Arndt,  a  Spener,  were  so 
bitterly  and  so  violently  persecuted.  No  one  can  more 
heartily  rejoice  than  I  do,  that  in  this  respect  a  new  era 
has  arrived ;  that  in  a  large  part  of  Germany  the  Luthe 
rans  and  the  Reformed  have  come  to  a  mutual  under 
standing,  (I  assume  from  real  conviction,  and  not  from 
any  compulsion  of  conscience,)  to  regard  their  confes 
sional  differences  as  no  hinderance  to  church-fellowship  ; 
that,  where  people  are  assured  of  agreement  in  the  fun 
damental  articles  of  the  gospel,  they  do  not  stand  upon 
the  letter  of  symbolical  forms,  in  order  to  recognize 
each  other  as  brethren  of  one  mind  and  spirit.  Only  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  old  Lutheran  doctrine 
has  a  right  to  be  properly  recognized  and  represented ; 
and  that  when  men  claim  liberty  for  every  other  view, 
but  grudge  it  to  this  one,  they  show  the  same  partiality 
and  intolerance,  which  they  charge  upon  Lutheranism. 
The  didactic  theology  here  presented,  it  is  true,  is  by  no 
means  a  mere  reiteration  of  the  old ;  but  while,  accord 
ing  to  Schleiermacher,  a  sound  and  vigorous  life  of  the 
Church  requires  that  two  tendencies  should  be  repre 
sented  in  it — both  the  conservative  tendency  which  in- 

28* 


330  TWESTEN. 

sists  upon  the  permanent  importance  and  reality  of  the 
old,  so  often  too  lightly  set  aside,  and  the  progressive 
tendency  which  labors  to  cast  everything  into  a  new 
shape — yet  is  it  more  the  first  of  these  tendencies  than 
the  second,  to  which  this  work  adheres." 

This  position  Twesten  still  occupies.  Both  as  an 
academic  teacher  and  as  a  member  of  the  highest  eccle 
siastical  tribunal  of  Prussia,  he  defends,  in  a  mild  and 
conciliatory  way,  the  conservative  Lutheran  interests 
in  the  bosom  of  the  United  Evangelical  Church  of 
Prussia. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 


NITZSCH. 

Ilia  general  Character  and  Position— His  Peculiarities  as  a  Writer— Sketch 
of  his  Life  and  sphere  of  Activity — His  System  of  Christian  Doctrine, 
and  theological  Standpoint — His  other  Works — His  character  as  Lec 
turer,  Preacher  to  the  University,  and  Member  of  the  highest  Church 
Council  in  Prussia — Lehnerdt — Strauss. 

OF  all  the  German  divines  still  living  there  is  none 
who  carries  with  him  so  much  moral  weight  in  his  per 
sonal  appearance  as  Dr.  Nitzsch,  formerly  of  Bonn,  now 
of  Berlin.  Hengstenberg  surpasses  him  in  energy  and 
decision  of  will,  as  well  as  in  clearly  defined  and  settled 
views.  But  Nitzsch  has  greater  dignity  of  character, 
as  he  is  more  venerable  by  age,  and  more  winning  by 
mildness  and  charity.  He  is  emphatically  a  homogravis, 
and  yet  very  unassuming  and  plain  in  address  and  man 
ner,  both  in  the  lecture  room,  in  the  pulpit,  and  at  home. 
The  words,  conscientia  fundamentum  est  scientice,  which 
he  wrote  once  in  my  Album,  may  be  regarded  as  his 
motto.  He  moves  like  a  patriarch,  combining  the  pre 
sent  generation  with  the  age  of  Schleiermacher  and 
Neander,  among  the  professors,  ministers  and  students 
of  Berlin.  The  concluding  remarks  of  his  beautiful 
oration  on  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1850,  will  be  fully 


382  NITZSCH. 

applicable  to  himself,  when  he  shall  be  called  to  his  rest: 
"  Still  he  (Neander)  stands  before  us  like  the  man  who, 
from  one  watch  of  the  night  to  the  other,  looks  out  for 
the  breaking  of  the  day.  Still  do  we  see  him  verifying 
before  our  eyes  the  words,  i  Seek  that  which  is  above, 
not  that  which  is  on  the  earth.'  And  who  is  there 
among  us,  what  youth,  what  man,  wrhat  individual  called 
to  noble  aims,  who  would  not  need  to  set  true  greatness 
before  his  eyes,  and  to  see  the  truth  confirmed  that  the 
root  of  greatness  is  simplicity  and  humility  ?  Well ! 
He  who  gave  him,  hath  taken  him  away.  The  Lord's 
name  be  praised  !  Have  pia  animal  I  add  no  more." 
The  personal  weight  of  a  character  thoroughly  im 
bued  with  the  moral  element  of  Christianity,  must  be 
taken  into  account,  if  we  would  form  a  proper  estimate 
of  this  divine.  His  published  productions  give  no  just 
idea  of  the  man,  especially  to  one  not  fully  master  of 
the  German.  The  English  edition  of  his  System  of 
Christian  Doctrine,  the  only  one  of  his  books,  I  believe, 
which  has  been  translated,  is  said  to  be  almost  unread 
able.  His  style,  though  nervous,  pregnant  and  pointed, 
is  heavy,  abrupt  and  not  unfrequently  obscure,  and  offers 
unsurmountable  difficulties  to  a  translator.  He  has  not 
the  gift  of  clear  analysis  and  transparent  development 
of  ideas  which  Twesten  possesses  in  so  eminent  a  degree  ; 
but  he  is  more  original  and  profound ;  more  stimulating 
and  suggestive.  He  abounds  in  brief,  aphoristic  and 
often  enigmatical  hints,  like  Bengel  in  his  Gnomon.  He 
scatters  around  him  pregnant  seeds  of  thought.  He  is 
a  metaphysician  who  digs  at  the  root  of  religious  truth, 
or  a  miner  who  brings  forth  the  precious  metal  in  its 
primitive  state  for  the  elaboration  of  others. 


NITZSCH.  333 

Carl  Immanuel  Nitzsch  was  born  in  1787,  two  years 
before  Neander  and  Twesten.  His  father,  Carl  Ludwig, 
was  General  Superintendent  and  the  first  Director  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Wittenberg,  the  birth-place 
of  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  and  published  several 
Latin  dissertations,  to  which  the  son  occasionally  refers 
with  filial  regard  and  affection.  He  received  the  tho 
rough  classical  training  for  which  the  schools  of  Saxony 
and  Prussia  are  distinguished.  His  principal  theologi 
cal  teacher  was  probably  Reinhard,  one  of  the  last  and 
most  respectable  representatives  of  the  supernaturalistic 
school.  But  he  must  have  been  early  influenced  by  the 
new  theological  system  of  Schleiermacher,  and  the  de 
velopment  of  philosophy  since  Kant,  and  more  particu 
larly  since  Schelling.  His  first  literary  efforts  were  two 
Latin  dissertations  on  the  apocryphal  gospels  and  on  the 
Testament  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  (1810.) 

He-  commenced  public  life  in  1812,  as  deacon  of  that 
venerable  castle-church  at  whose  gates  Luther  aflixed 
the  famous  ninety-five  theses  againt  the  indulgences  of 
the  Dominican  mountebank  Tetzel.  Subsequently  he 
became  superintendent  and  theological  professor  of  the 
Seminary  at  Wittenberg.  Here  he  moved  altogether 
on  Lutheran  ground,  but  fell  heartily  in  with  the  Union 
as  soon  as  it  was  introduced  in  1817. 

In  1822,  he  was  elected  professor  of  theology  and 
preacher  to  the  newly  founded  University  of  Bonn. 
Here  he  spent  the  years  of  his  manhood  as  the  acknow 
ledged  head  of  the  theological  faculty,  and  the  chief 
attraction  to  students  who  came  from  various  parts  of 


334  NITZSCH. 

Germany  and  Switzerland  to  be  benefited  by  his  lec 
tures,  sermons  and  exemplary  life.  lie  took,  at  the 
same  time,  an  active  interest  in  all  the  practical  ques 
tions  and  affairs  of  the  Church  in  the  Western  provinces 
of  Prussia,  and  acquired  a  love  for  the  peculiar  institu 
tions  and  the  practical  spirit  of  the  Reformed  Confes 
sion  which  prevails  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  from  its 
fountain-head  in  Graublindten  to  its  mouth  in  Holland. 
He  prefers  the  Presbyterial  and  Synodical  constitution 
to  every  other  form  of  church  government. 

In  1846,  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  General 
Synod  which  convened  at  Berlin,  and  drew  up  the  new 
formula  of  ordination,  with  a  view  to  give  a  doctrinal 
expression  to  the  Union.  In  1847  he  accepted  a  call  to 
Berlin  to  fill  the  vacancy  created  in  the  theological 
faculty  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Marheineke.  He  is  now 
the  oldest  divine  of  that  University,  but  as  active  and 
useful  as  ever.  In  addition  to  his  lectures,  he  preaches 
once  in  two  weeks  to  the  professors  and  students,  and 
attends  the  sessions  of  the  OberkircJtenrath,  of  which  he 
is  a  regular  member.  Quite  recently  he  was  elected 
Propst  (provost)  of  St.  Nicolai.  These  are  certainly  as 
many  important  offices  as  any  man  in  the  vigor  of  life 
can  well  attend  to. 

As  a  theological  author,  Nitzsch  is  best  known  by  his 
System  der  Christlichen  Lehre,  which  appeared  first  in 
1828,  and  often  since,  (6th  edition,  1851.)  It  struck 
out  a  new  path  in^the  line  of  didactic  theology.  It 
gives,  with  compressed  brevity,  an  exhibition  of  Chris 
tian  dogmatics  and  ethics,  as  an  undivided  system  of 
life,  without,  however,  intending  to  dispute  the  right  of 


NITZSCH.  335 

the  separate  treatment  of  these  two  departments  which 
has  been  usual  since  Danaeus  and  Calixtus.  He  thus 
brings  out  at  every  point  the  organic  connection  of  doc 
trine  and  practice,  of  truth  and  holiness.  He  shows  the 
moral  bearing  of  all  the  articles  of  faith,  and  the  doc 
trinal  root  of  all  the  Christian  virtues.  This  we  take  to 
be  the  most  characteristic  feature  and  the  principal 
merit  of  his  work.  To  English  taste  the  ethical  sections 
will  appear  more  valuable  than  the  dogmatic  expositions, 
several  of  which,  as  the  one  on  the  atonement,  differ 
considerably  from  the  commonly  received  forms  of  state 
ment.  But  his  views  are  certainly  genial  and  profound. 
He  draws  the  material  directly  from  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures  and  the  Christian  consciousness,  but  in  a  number 
of  learned  exegetical,  critical,  historical  and  philosophi 
cal  notes  added  to  the  sections,  he  refers  to  more  recent 
systems  and  opinions,  particularly  those  of  a  speculative 
kind,  in  the  way  of  opposition  or  approval.  He  bows 
before  the  Scriptures  with  a  reverential  mind  as  the 
unerring  word  of  the  living  God,  and  brings  to  light 
many  precious  pearls  from  its  secret  treasures.  He 
thus  represents  the  progress  of  the  Schleiermacherian 
system  to  Biblical  theology,  while  Twesten  proceeded 
from  the  same  school  to  the  churchly  orthodoxy  of  Lu- 
theranism. 

As  regards  the  confessional  differences,  Nitzsch  is 
more  decidedly  a  man  of  the  Union  than  his  colleague 
just  named.  For  although  of  strictly  Lutheran  descent, 
he  spent,  as  already  remarked,  more  than  twenty  years 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  Reformed  church,  and  took  an 
active  part,  from  the  start,  in  the  Union,  which  he  re- 


336  NITZSCH. 

gards  as  the  beginning  simply  of  a  movement  that  must 
comprehend  ultimately,  all  the  sections  of  Christendom. 
In  his  theology,  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  features 
are  so  intimately  interwoven,  that  it  would  be  a  vain 
attempt  to  separate  them.  He  esteems  the  Augsburg 
Confession  as  the  fundamental  and  most  national  symbol 
of  German  Protestantism,  and  defended  its  public  recog 
nition  under  this  character  before  the  Church  Diet  of 
Berlin  in  1853.  But  he  equally  admires  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  In  questions  of  worship  he  sympathizes 
more  with  the  Lutheran  principle,  but  in  questions  of 
government  and  discipline  he  stands  on  the  Reformed 
side. 

The  same  unionism  pervades  his  Practical  Theology, 
a  very  instructive  and  suggestive,  but  as  yet  unfinished 
work,  and  his  numerous  periodical  writings. 

Nitzsch  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  champions  of 
Protestantism  against  the  powerful  attack  of  Mohler's 
Symbolik.  His  articles  on  the  subject,  first  published 
in  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken"  and  then  in  separate 
book  form  in  1835,  enriched  by  100  Protestant  Theses, 
are  certainly  more  orthodox  than  the  able  and  learned 
work  of  Baur  against  the  same  author,  and  commend 
themselves  by  their  dignified,  gentlemanly  and  truly 
Christian  tone  of  polemics.  Mohler  himself  expressed 
great  respect  for  Nitzsch,  and  had  formed  the  design  of 
a  lengthy  reply,  which,  however,  he  never  executed. 
But  they  can  hardly  be  considered  a  full  and  satisfac 
tory  refutation  of  the  most  earnest,  philosophical  and 
eloquent  controversial  work  of  modern  Romanism.  The 
Protestant  Mohler  has  not  yet  made  his  appearance. 


NITZSCH.  337 

He  prepared  a  similar  series  of  articles  against  the 
infidel  Dogmatics  of  Strauss,  a  work  which,  like  his  no 
torious  "  Leben  Jesu,"  ends  in  absolute  negation,  not 
only  of  all  revealed  truth,  but  even  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  thus  refutes  itself  most  effectually.  He 
wrote  also  a  number  of  Latin  dissertations,  and  is  one 
of  the  founders  of,  and  frequent  contributors  to,  three 
theological  journals,  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken,"  the 
"Bonner  Monatschrift,"  and  the  "Deutsche  Zeitschrift 
fur  Christ!.  "VYissenschaft  und  Christl.  Leben." 

As  a  lecturer,  Nitzsch  has  the  singular  habit  of  half 
buttoning  and  unbuttoning  his  coat,  and  taking  snuff  at 
regular  intervals.  But  the  sense  of  ridicule  is  kept 
down  by  his  dignified  and  venerable  appearance,  and 
the  excellent  matter  of  his  lectures  on  the  various 
branches  of  systematic  and  practical  theology.  He  has 
probably  more  personal  influence  upon  the  students  than 
any  of  his  colleagues. 

His  sermons,  of  which  several  volumes  were  published, 
are  not  popular,  but  well  calculated  to  instruct  and  edify 
an  intellectual  and  literary  audience.  They  abound  in 
rich  thought,  taken  from  the  fresh  fountain  of  truth, 
presented  without  the  drapery  of  eloquence,  but  with 
deep  feeling  and  unction,  and  pervaded  by  a  vein  of 
earnestness  that  appeals  to  the  inmost  moral  sensibilities 
of  the  heart.  I  recollect  more  particularly  a  most  sub 
lime  and  impressive  discourse  of  his,  delivered  in  March, 
1854,  in  the  Dorotheen  Kirche,  on  the  moral  dignity 
and  grandeur  of  Christ  under  his  sufferings,  and  the 
duty  of  sacrificing  his  honor  before  men  in  order  to 
receive  it  under  a  higher  form  from  God.  Professors 
29 


338  NITZSCH. 

Bitter,  Ranke,  and  other  distinguished  scholars  listened 
to  it  with  profound  attention,  and  I  heard  them  speak 
of  him  afterwards  in  high  terms  of  admiration. 

JSfitzsch  presides  over  a  theological  conference  of  the 
ministers  of  Berlin,  and  generally  opens  its  monthly 
meetings  with  an  expository  lecture  on  some  passage  of 
Scripture,  which  is  followed  by  a  free  discussion,  and 
closed  by  a  social  meal.  I  heard  once  from  his  lips,  on 
such  an  occasion,  a  truly  sublime  exposition  of  the  seven 
teenth  chapter  of  St.  John,  the  sanctissimum  of  the 
Gospel  history,  which  filled  the  audience  with  a  thrilling 
sense  of  the  awful  majesty  and  depth  of  the  Saviour's 
intercessory  prayer,  the  grandest  prayer  ever  uttered 
on  earth. 

As  a  member  of  the  Prussian  Oberkirchenrath,  Nitzsch 
represents  the  confessional  union  of  the  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  church,  or  the  consensus-party.  His  position 
in  this  respect  is  a  very  important  and  difficult  one  in 
view  of  the  growing  denominationalism  around  him.  He 
defines  his  Unionism  at  length  in  his  "  Urkundenbuch 
der  Evangelischen  Union,"  (1853,)  and  in  his  more 
recent  reply  to  Dr.  Kahnis. 

Finally,  we  must  add  that  he  is  one  of  the  founders 
and  managers  of  the  German  Evangelical  Church  Diet, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  its  leading  reports  and  debates 
at  most  of  its  annual  meetings  since  1848. 

Nitzsch,  Hengstenberg  and  Twesten  are  the  most 
prominent  divines  of  Berlin.  The  other  members  of 
the  theological  faculty  are  Dr.  Lehnerdt,  the  successor 
of  Neander  in  the  chair  of  Church  History,  an  excellent 
teacher,  of  decidedly  evangelical  character,  but  hardly 


NITZSCH.  339 

known  as  a  writer ;  and  Dr.  F.  Strauss,  professor  of 
practical  theology,  the  author  of  a  very  instructive  and 
interesting  work  on  the  Church  Year,  and  several  popu 
lar  religious  works,  of  which  the  <;  Glockentone"  have 
gone  through  a  number  of  editions.  He  is  at  the  same 
time  one  of  the  four  court  and  cathedral  preachers,  and 
was  in  his  younger  years  a  very  spirited  and  animated 
pulpit  orator.  He  did  a  great  deal  of  good  among  the 
higher  classes  of  Berlin,  and  exerted  much  influence  on 
the  king,  who  admitted  him  to  intimate  personal  inter 
course  before  he  ascended  the  throne.  His  son,  Frede 
rick  Strauss,  is  Privatdocent  of  theology  in  Berlin,  and 
the  author  of  a  popular  work  of  travels  to  the  holy 
land.  Of  the  extraordinary  professors,  Vatke  and  Piper 
are  best  known ;  the  first  as  a  Hegelian,  the  other  as  an 
independent  disciple  of  Neander,  and  a  very  learned 
ecclesiastical  antiquarian. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


JULIUS     MULLER. 


Personal  Notice — Mailer's  Character  as  a  Divine — His  Work  on  Sin — His 
attempt  to  show  the  Doctrinal  Unity  of  Protestantism — The  Formula 
Consensus — The  other  Divines  of  Hallo,  Hupfold,  Jacobi,  and  Gucricke. 


DR.  JULIUS  MULLER  is  a  contemporary,  intimate 
friend  and  colleague  of  Dr.  Tholuck,  who  gave  him, 
under  the  name  of  Julius,  a  permanent  place  in  his 
early  work  on  Sin  and  Redemption,  by  lending  him  the 
beautiful  letters  to  Guido,  on  the  intellectual  and  moral 
conflict  of  a  noble  youth,  winding  his  way  through  the 
dreary  labyrinths  of  skepticism  to  the  clear  light  of  faith 
in  the  Redeemer.  He  is  a  brother  of  Ottfried  Miiller, 
one  of  the  seven  protesting  professors  of  Gottingen, 
and  an  eminent  Greek  scholar  and  antiquarian,  who  died 
at  Athens  in.  1840.  Contrary  to  the  rule  of  German 
divines,  he  labored  first  in  the  practical  sphere  before 
he  entered  the  academic  career.  Pie  was  a  number  of 
years  pastor  at  Schbnbrunn  in  Silesia,  his  native  pro 
vince,  then  University  preacher  at  Gottingen.  In  1835 
he  received  a  call  to  Marburg  as  professor.  From 
thence  he  removed  to  Halle  in  1839,  where  he  has  la 
bored  ever  since  as  teacher  of  the  various  branches  of 


JULIUS  MULLER.  841 

systematic  and  practical  theology,  and  as  a  member  of 
the  Consistory  for  the  province  of  Magdeburg.  The  stu 
dents  call  him  humorously  the  "  Simden-Muller,"  with 
reference  to  his  great  work  on  Sin,  and  to  distinguish 
him  from  the  legion  of  Miillers  who  are  quite  as  common 
in  Germany  as  the  Millers  and  Smiths  in  England  and 
America.  But  this  is  no  mark  of  disrespect ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  enjoys  their  unbounded  regard  and  confi 
dence,  as  a  teacher,  man  and  Christian. 

Next  to  Tholuck,  he  forms  undoubtedly  the  chief  at 
traction  of  the  University  of  Halle,  and  attaches  young 
men,  not  so  quickly,  but  more  deeply  and  permanently 
to  his  person.  He  is  a  tall,  dignified,  fine  looking, 
earnest,  courteous  and  amiable  Christian  gentleman, 
whom  it  is  impossible  not  to  love  and  esteem.  By  some 
misfortune  he  lost  one  eye  long  since,  and  quite  recent 
ly,  we  are  sorry  to  learn,  was  struck  with  apoplexy, 
which  injured  his  memory  and  threatens  to  interfere 
materially  with  the  prosecution  of  his  labors.  His  loss 
would  be  deeply  felt,  not  only  in  Halle,  but  in  Germany 
at  large,  as  he  combines  much  moral  weight  and  practi 
cal  wisdom  with  his  learning,  and  stands  as  a  sort  of 
umpire  amidst  the  ecclesiastical  conflicts  of  the  day. 

Muller  takes  also  a  leading  part  in  the  movement  to 
restore  the  matrimonial  legislation  of  Prussia,  which 
facilitates  divorce  for  trifling  reasons,  to  Scriptural  and 
evangelical  principles,  and  delivered  a  masterly  essay 
on  the  sanctity  and  indissolubleness  of  marriage  before 
the  Church  Diet  at  Frankfort,  1854,  and  a  year  after 
wards  before  the  Conference  of  Gnadau. 

He  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  deepest  and  most 
29* 


342  JULIUS  MULLER. 

pious  speculative  divines  of  the  present  age,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  very  polished  and  tasteful  writer,  which  is 
quite  a  recommendation.  For  to  write  a  good  style  was 
till  more  recently  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule 
among  German  theologians. 

His  largest  work,  and  a  lasting  monument  of  his  phil 
osophical  and  theological  scholarship,  is  "  The  Christian 
Doctrine  of  Sin,"  third  edition,  1849,  in  two  volumes. 
The  English  translation  by  the  Rev.  W.  Pulsford,  which 
forms  volumes  27  and  29  of  the  excellent  series  of 
Clark's  Foreign  Library,  is  too  literal  and  slavish,  and 
for  this  reason  frequently  awkward  and  unintelligible. 
Nevertheless  it  was  received  favorably  by  the  better  or 
gans  of  the  English  press.  The  British  Quarterly  Revieiv 
speaks  of  the  book  as  "  the  most  weighty  and  important 
contribution  to  the  cause  of  dogmatic  theology  which 
Germany  has  recently  produced.  It  unites,  in  a  high 
degree,  depth  and  comprehensiveness  with  practical 
earnestness  and  clearness.  It  is  profound  even  to  the 
contentment  of  a  German  mind,  yet  rarely  obscure  and 
uninstructive ;  the  author  evinces  his  thorough  metaphy 
sical  training,  and  his  work  is  pervaded  by  the  presence 
of  a  shining  and  disciplined  intellect,  and  the  rare  mas 
tery  of  a  large  and  skillful  argumentative  grasp.  He 
has  in  no  sense  taken  up  his  subject  as  so  much  mere 
theological  task-work  by  which  to  gain  a  reputation — 
but  it  has  plainly  been  with  him  long  a  favorite  sphere 
of  reflection,  the  haunt  and  main  region  of  his  spirit 
during  many  years  of  silent  and  meditative  preparation ; 
he  has  felt  its  surpassing  interest,  its  grand  significancy, 
its  solemn  importance." 


JULIUS  MULLER.  343 

The  true  knowledge  of  sin  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
Christian  theology  and  experience.  Without  it  we  can 
not  understand  the  mystery  of  divine  grace  and  the  re 
demption  through  Christ.  Schleiermacher,  owing  to  the 
pantheistic  leaning  of  his  philosophy,  is  very  unsatisfac 
tory  on  this  cardinal  article.  It  was  therefore  a  happy 
choice  that  Mliller,  one  of  his  early  disciples  and  ad 
mirers,  should  make  it  the  subject  of  a  profound  inves 
tigation  in  the  light  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  of  Christian 
experience  and  an  enlightened  philosophy.  He  ap 
proaches  his  task  with  deep  seriousness,  and  the  feeling 
of  its  great  difficulty.  With  all  due  respect  for  the  dif 
ferent  attempts  to  solve  the  problem  of  sin,  he  keeps 
constantly  in  mind  the  imperfection  of  all  earthly  know 
ledge,  and  the  unsearchable  background  of  the  divine 
mysteries.  This  humility  becomes  a  theologian  and  a 
Christian,  infinitely  better  than  that  pride  of  science 
which  characterizes  so  many  writings  of  the  Hegelian 
school.  The  method  is  for  the  most  part  speculative 
and  dialectic,  yet  there  is  interwoven  with  it  a  large 
amount  of  carefully  sifted  exegetical  and  historical  mat 
ter,  touching  the  origin,  nature  and  effect  of  sin,  and  its 
relation  to  human  freedom.  The  author  subjects  the 
principles  of  the  various  philosophical  systems  from 
Plato  to  Hegel,  as  far  as  they  have  a  bearing  upon 
these  questions  and  promise  to  answer  them,  to  a  care 
ful  and  penetrating  criticism.  The  order  and  arrange 
ment  of  the  material  is  perhaps  not  sufficiently  clear 
and  simple.  Nor  are  the  results  always  satisfactory; 
the  origin  of  sin  especially  is  a  mystery  still,  and  not 
cleared  up  by  the  theory  of  a  transcendental,  pre- 


344  JULIUS  MULLER. 

adamitic  fall.  But  no  one  can  lay  aside  the  book,  the 
study  of  which  indeed  requires  close  and  earnest 
thought,  without  high  esteem  for  the  learning  and  cha 
racter  of  the  writer,  and  gratitude  for  much  intellectual 
and  spiritual  benefit. 

Should  the  author's  life  be  spared,  we  may  expect 
from  him  in  due  time  a  complete  exhibition  of  the  sys 
tem  of  Christian  dogmatics  and  ethics. 

Passing  by  the  solid  and  instructive  reviews  and  essays 
which  Dr.  Muller  furnishes  occasionally  for  the  pages 
of  the  Deutsche  Zeitschrift  of  Berlin,  of  which  he  is  one 
of  the  founders,  and  for  Ullmann's  Studien  und  Kritiken, 
we  must  mention  another  work  which,  though  more  im 
mediately  designed  for  the  present  conflict  of  unionism 
and  confessionalism  in  Prussia,  deserves,  nevertheless, 
the  attention  of  all  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  doctrinal 
unity  and  difference  of  evangelical  Protestantism. 

We  mean  the  book  on  the  "Evangelical  Union,  its 
nature  and  divine  right,"  1854.  It  is  written  with  ten 
der  regard  to  the  orthodox  Lutherans  who  have  consci 
entious  scruples  about  the  Union,  regarding  it  as  a 
sacrifice  of  truth  and  compromise  with  error  and  indif- 
ferentism.  It  rests  on  a  deep  sense  of  the  evil  of  schism 
in  Protestantism,  and  an  anxious  desire  to  promote  the 
harmony  of  the  body  of  Christ.  "To  unite,"  he  says, 
"  what  is  internally  divided,  is  an  unprofitable  work ; 
but  to  divide  what  belongs  together,  is  still  more  un 
profitable."  He  discusses  with  much  learning  and  depth, 
yet  clearly,  the  unity  and  variety  of  the  church  in  gene 
ral,  and  the  doctrinal  differences  of  the  Lutheran  and 
German  Reformed  confessions  in  particular,  especially 


JULIUS  MULLER.  345 

the  controversies  on  predestination  and  the  Lord's  Sup 
per,  with  the  view  to  show  that  the  latter  do  not  neces 
sarily  contradict  and  exclude  each  other,  but  represent 
different  aspects  of  the  same  truth,  and  may  and  should 
be  reconciled  by  going  back  to  their  religious  root,  and 
beyond  them  to  a  more  scientific  statement.  The  most 
important  part,  perhaps,  is  the  draught  of  a  formula 
consensus,  as  a  doctrinal  basis  for  the  evangelical  church 
of  Prussia,  which  professes  to  be  based  upon  the  sym 
bolical  books  of  both  churches  as  far  as  they  agree,  but 
which  never  yet  has  defined  this  agreement  in  a  formal 
way.  Miiller's  sketch  is  altogether  based  upon,  and 
stated  in  the  spirit,  and  often  in  the  very  words  of  the 
oecumenical,  and  the  oldest  Protestant  symbols,  especially 
the  Augsburg,  and  Helvetic  Confessions,  the  Articles  of 
Smalkald,  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  and  covers  all 
the  vital  doctrines  of  the  gospel. 

Time  must  reveal  whether  this  formula  will  remain 
a  mere  proposition,  or  be  adopted  as  it  is,  or  made 
at  least  the  basis  of  a  formal  confession  of  the  united 
Church.  The  author  hopes  it  may  yet  be  used  for  such 
a  practical  purpose  at  some  future  day;  but  he  is  modest 
enough  to  regard  it  merely  as  a  preparatory  work  which 
admits  of  great  improvements,  and  may  require  mate 
rial  changes.  During  the  session  of  the  Church  Diet  at 
Frankfort,  a  special  conference  was  held  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  the  subject  of  this  doctrinal  consensus,  and 
a  Committee  consisting  of  Dr.  Miiller,  and  a  few  others, 
was  appointed  with  the  direction  to  draw  up  such  a  for 
mula.  But  I  am  unable  to  say  whether  they  have 
arrived  at  a  definite  result. 


346  JULIUS  MULLER. 

Besides  Tholuck  and  Muller,  the  theological  faculty 
of  Halle  includes  Hupfeld,  Moll  and  Jacobi,  to  whom 
must  be  added  the  extraordinary  professors,  Dahne, 
Guericke,  Franke  and  Dietlein.  Hupfeld  is  the  suc 
cessor  of  Gesenius,  and  not  inferior  to  him  in  Hebrew 
and  oriental  learning,  while  far  excelling  him  in  a  sound 
theological  and  Christian  spirit.  Moll  is  an  able  teacher 
and  writer  on  the  different  branches  of  practical  the 
ology.  Jacobi,  who  was  recently  called  there  from 
Kb'nigsberg,  is  one  of  the  most  faithful  disciples  of 
JSTeander,  and  lectures  on  church  history.  Of  the  ex 
traordinary  professors,  Guericke,  although  very  unpop 
ular  as  a  teacher,  on  account  of  his  repulsive  style  of 
delivery,  is  best  known  abroad  as  a  champion  of  Luthe 
ran  orthodoxy,  and  author  of  useful  compilations  and 
manuals  on  Church  History,  Archaeology,  and  Introduc 
tion  to  the  New  Testament. 


CHAPTER    XXXII 


ULLMANN. 


Ullmann's  Academic  Career— His  Present  Position  and  Labors  as  Prelate 
at  Carlsruhe— The  Character  of  his  Theology— His  Apologetic  and 
Christological  \Yorks-The  Sinlessness  of  Jesus— Essay  on  the  Distinc 
tive  Character  of  Christianity— His  Historical  Works— The  Reformers 
before  the  Reformation— Arguments  for  Protestantism— Gregory  of  Na- 
zianzen— The  Studieu  und  Kritiken. 

DR.  CARL  ULLMANN  was  born  toward  the  end  of  the 
last  century  at  Epfenbach  in  the  Palatinate,  studied 
partly  at  the  University  of  Tubingen,  where  he  formed 
the  intimate  friendship  with  the  distinguished  Swabian 
poet,  Gustav  Schwab,  and  commenced  his  professorial 
career  at  Heidelberg.  In  1829  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  University  of  Halle,  but  in  1836  he  returned  to 
Heidelberg  as  Professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  and 
Church  counsellor,  (Kirchenrath,)  and  spent  there  the 
best  years  of  his  manhood. 

In  1853  he  was  elected  to  the  prelacy,  or  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  dignity  of  the  evangelical  Church  in  the 
grand  duchy  of  Baden.  He  now  resides  at  Carlsruhe, 
the  capital  of  that  country,  and  his  time  is  principally 
taken  up  with  matters  of  church  government. 

However  much   his   withdrawal    from    the    academic 


348  ULLMANN. 

chair  may  be  regretted  in  the  interest  of  theological 
science  and  literature,  his  services  in  the  equally  if  not 
more  influential  position  he  now  occupies,  are  very  im 
portant.  In  connection  with  his  like-minded  colleague, 
the  learned  Dr.  Bahr,  the  author  of  a  very  valuable 
work  on  the  Symbolism  of  the  Mosaic  worship,  he  faith 
fully  endeavors  to  build  up  the  Protestant  Church  of 
Baden,  which  was  deeply  undermined  by  theological 
rationalism  and  political  red-republicanism. 

A  General  Synod  met  for  this  purpose  at  Carlsruhe  in 
1855,  and  its  labors  were  crowned  with  as  much  success 
as  could  be  expected  under  the  circumstances.  The 
rationalistic  Catechism  heretofore  in  use,  is  to  be  re 
placed  by  a  far  better  one  constructed  on  the  basis  of 
the  small  Lutheran  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechisms. 
Similar  reforms  are  contemplated  in  regard  to  the  litur 
gy,  and  the  common  school  books.  Both  Ullmann  and 
Bahr,  although  originally  Reformed,  stand  on  the  Union 
of  the  two  Confessions,  which  was  introduced  in  Baden 
in  1819,  at  a  period  of  prevailing  religious  indifferentism, 
but  which  is  assuming  now  more  and  more,  under  the 
influence  of  these  men  and  the  excellent  theological 
faculty  of  Heidelberg,  a  positive  evangelical  character. 
We  only  regret  that  the  Oberkirchenrath  of  Baden  in 
its  zeal  for  the  Union,  saw  fit  to  depose  two  restless  old 
Lutheran  ministers  hostile  to  the  Union,  (Eichhorn  and 
Haag,)  by  which  act  it  exposed  itself  to  the  charge  of 
intolerance. 

Ullmann  started  from  the  school  of  Schleiermacher 
and  Neander,  and  was  at  first  somewhat  latitudinarian 
in  doctrine  and  too  compromising  in  disposition ;  but  he 


ULLMANN.  349 

grew  with  the  better  spirit  of  the  age,  in  orthodoxy  and 
evangelical  sentiment.  He  is  of  small  stature,  has  a 
modest,  but  gentlemanly  air,  and  a  smiling  pleasant 
countenance.  His  mind  is  not  so  strong  and  original 
as  that  of  Schleiermacher,  Rothe,  Baur,  and  others,  but 
remarkably  clear,  orderly,  well  balanced  and  stored  with 
theological  and  general  learning.  His  temper  is  quiet, 
mild  and  amiable,  and  yet,  we  should  think,  rather  sen 
sitive  and  irritable.  He  is  none  of  the  bold,  war-like 
and  commanding  characters  of  the  type  of  St.  Paul  and 
Luther,  but  belongs  to  the  moderate,  peaceful,  concilia 
tory  order  of  St.  John  and  Melanthon.  Of  him  may  be 
said,  what  Luther  remarked  of  "Master  Philippus:  "Er 
fahrt  sauberlich  stille  daher,  saet  und  begeusst  mit  Lust, 
nach  dem  ihm  Gott  gegeben  hat  seine  Gaben  reichlich." 
He  is  also  one  of  the  best  writers  amongst  the  German 
divines.  His  style  is  transparent,  easy  and  elegant, 
and  gives  evidence  of  fine  classical  culture  and  artistic 
taste. 

Ullmann  has  acquired  a  lasting  reputation  by  a  num 
ber  of  works,  equally  distinguished  for  solid  and  well 
digested  historical  information,  comprehensive  views, 
calm  and  clear  reflection,  dignified  and  conciliatory 
tone,  and  masterly  power  of  exhibition.  They  relato 
partly  to  apologetical,  partly  to  historical  subjects, 
partly  to  the  religious  questions  of  the  day. 

We  mention  first  his  beautiful  little  book  on  the  Sin- 
lessness  of  Jesus.  It  appeared  originally  as  an  essay  in 
the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken"  for  1828,  was  then  print 
ed  separately,  and  increased,  in  the  sixth  edition  of 
1853,  to  299  pages.  In  its  present  improved  form,  it 
30 


350  ULLMANN. 

must  certainly  be  numbered  among  the  most  valuable 
contributions  to  the  apologetic  literature  of  the  Church, 
and  is  better  calculated,  in  our  judgment,  to  satisfy  an 
inquiring  and  well  cultivated  mind  on  the  claims  of  our 
holy  religion,  than  many  large  volumes  on  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity.  It  shows  the  way  by  which  the  author 
himself  found  the  truth,  and  by  which  many  a  theologi 
cal  student  of  Germany  has  since  escaped  the  whirlpool 
of  rationalism  and  pantheism. 

What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  This  is  the  fundamental 
question  on  which  our  theology,  religion  and  salvation 
depend.  Nothing  makes  so  deep  and  lasting  an  im 
pression  upon  our  mind  and  heart,  and  settles  so  firmly 
in  us  the  conviction  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity, 
as  a  proper  view  of  the  person  of  its  founder.  Ullmann 
attempts  no  full  Christology,  but  takes  up  simply  an 
essential  part  of  it  and  treats  it,  both  under  its  exegeti- 
cal,  dogmatical  and  ethical  aspects,  more  fully  and  satis 
factorily  than  was  ever  done  before.  Starting  with  an 
exposition  of  the  nature  of  sin  and  sinlessness,  he  proves, 
from  the  testimony  of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  from  the 
whole  character  of  the  Saviour  as  exhibited  in  the  gos 
pels,  and  from  the  redeeming  and  sanctifying  effects  of 
his  religion  upon  every  man  who  submits  to  its  power, 
that  he  was  not  only  free  from  sin,  but  that  He  realized 
in  his  person  the  ideal  of  moral  and  religious  perfection. 
In  the  third  section  he  refutes  the  objections  which  are 
raised  against  the  reality  of  the  sinlessness  from  the 
development  of  the  person  of  Christ,  and  of  the  plan  of 
his  kingdom,  from  his  temptation  and  several  other  facts 
in  his  life,  and  also  the  philosophical  and  empirical  ar- 


ULLMANN.  351 

gumcnts  against  the  possibility  of  such  moral  perfection 
in  a  human  being.  In  the  fourth  section  he  draws  from 
these  premises  the  conclusions  as  to  the  character  of 
Christ  as  the  God-man,  and  his  position  in  the  history 
of  the  world  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  author  of 
eternal  life.  An  Appendix  treats  of  the  different  inter 
pretations  of  the  temptation  of  Christ  in  the  wilderness. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  book  attentively  without 
being  edified  as  well  as  instructed,  and  overwhelmed 
with  the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father 
that  shines  through  the  veil  of  his  flesh  upon  the 
eye  of  faith  and  enlightened  reason.  It  would  be  de 
sirable  to  present  a  full  translation  of  Ullmann's  Silnd- 
losigkeit  Jesu  in  its  last  newly  elaborated  and  greatly 
enlarged  edition,  to  the  English  reader.  To  it  might 
be  added  his  essay,  Historiscli  oder  Mythisch;  where 
he  brings  out  the  significance  of  Christ's  personality 
under  a  historical  point  of  view,  as  an  unanswerable 
argument  to  the  infidel  work  of  Strauss  on  the  Life  of 
Jesus. 

In  this  connection  we  may  direct  attention  to  a  some 
what  similar  work  of  a  promising  English  divine,  John 
Young,  entitled  "The  Christ  of  History,"  (London  and 
New  York,)  which  endeavors  to  prove,  on  a  different 
plan  and  with  less  learning,  but  with  considerable  rea 
soning  power  and  great  effect,  the  godhead  of  Christ, 
not  from  miracles  or  prophecy,  but  simply  from  the  pe 
culiar  character  and  the  particular  outer  conditions  of 
his  manhood.  Its  leading  idea  is,  that  Jesus  was  the 
one  wonderful  personality,  the  only  one,  of  all  that  ever 
dwelt  on  this  earth,  who  had  more  immediate,  constant 


352  ULLMANN. 

and  perfect  access  to  the  infinite  fountain  of  being  than 
was  possible  to  the  constitution  of  a  mere  creature. 

Closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  the  work  on  the 
sinless  perfection  of  Christ's  person,  and  equally  inter 
esting  and  instructive,  is  Ullmann's  tract  on  the  dis 
tinctive  character  and  essence  of  the  Christian  Religion, 
or,  Das  Wesen  dcs  Christenthums.  It  is  free  from 
learned  apparatus,  and  treated  in  a  manner  that  makes 
it  accessible  to  the  educated  layman  as  well  as  the  pro 
fessional  theologian.  Soon  after  its  first  appearance  in 
the  Studien  und  Kritiken  for  1845,  Dr.  Nevin  furnished 
a  free  and  spirited  translation  of  it,  as  an  introduction 
to  his  "Mystical  Presence."  But  it  was  subsequently 
much  enlarged  and  includes  in  its  third  edition  (Ham 
burg,  1849,)  several  additional  chapters  on  the  nature 
of  Christian  faith,  love  and  the  Church,  also  a  valuable 
critical  appendix  on  Feuerbach's  infamous  book  on  the 
Essence  of  Christianity.  We  would  greatly  prefer,  if 
the  author  had  entered  also  into  the  Scriptural  part  of 
the  investigation,  and  made  it  the  basis,  instead  of  con 
fining  himself  to  a  philosophico-dogmatical  exposition. 

Ullmann  derives  the  whole  meaning  and  significance 
of  the  Christian  religion  from  the  person  of  its  founder 
as  representing  the  true  and  abiding  union  of  God  and 
man.  The  ancient  Greek  Church,  which  produced  the 
dogmas,  and  styled  itself  emphatically  the  Orthodox, 
viewed  it  mainly  as  doctrine.  The  Latin  Church  in  the 
middle  ages,  which  had  to  civilize  and  regulate  the  life 
of  the  Northern  barbarians,  and  called  itself  the  Catho 
lic  in  an  exclusive  sense  of  the  term,  regarded  it  as  a 
system  of  moral  law  and  a  disciplinary  institute  with  the 


ULLMANN.  358 


claim  of  universal  authority.  The  Evangelical  Churches, 
which  sprang  up  with  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  in  the  bosom  of  the  Germanic  nations,  find  the 
essence  of  Christianity  in  its  character,  as  gospel  and 
redemption,  by  which  the  sinner  is  justified  before  God 
through  faith,  and  is  made  truly  free. 

These  three  historical  conceptions  of  Christianity,  as 
doctrine,  as  moral  law,  and  as  a  source  of  redemption 
and  spiritual  freedom,  are  true  as  far  as  they  go,  but 
they  do  not  exhaust  the  whole  truth.  They  must  be 
comprehended  in  a  fourth  view,  which  regards  it  as  the 
absolutely  perfect  religion,  because  it  unites  God  and 
man,  not  in  a  pantheistic  sense,  however,  but  with  the 
full  recognition  of  a  personal  God,  and  his  positive  reve 
lation  to  sinful,  fallen  man.  This  view  unfolded  itself 
from  an  early  period,  especially  in  the  mysticism  of  the 
middle  ages,  and  appears  more  fully  in  the  philosophical 
and  theological  speculations  of  modern  times,  although 
frequently  distorted  into  pantheism.  We  may  expect 
that  this  conception  of  Christianity,  like  the  former 
three,  will  be  actualized  in  a  corresponding  form  of  or 
ganization,  in  the  Church  of  the  future,  that  shall  join 
in  harmony  the  highest  spirituality,  catholicity,  and 
freedom,  and  reflect  the  fullness  of  the  divine-human 
life  of  the  Saviour's  person  in  his  people. 

This  historical  progress  through  which  the  apprehen 
sion  of  Christianity  passed  in  the  actual  life  of  church 
history,  was  reproduced  by  modern  theology  in  the  way 
of  reflection.  It  has  been  described  successively  as  doc 
trine  by  the  older  orthodox  and  supernaturalistic  divines, 
as  a  moral  law  by  the  Kantian  school,  as  a  system  of 

20* 


354  ULLMANN. 

redemption  by  Schleiermacher,  and  as  a  real  union  of 
the  divine  and  human  in  the  Hegelian  philosophy.  Ull- 
mann  carefully  points  out  the  truth  in  these  various  con 
ceptions,  and  at  the  same  time  their  defects  and  errors, 
as  they  appear  in  the  modern  schools,  especially  the 
Kantian,  which  is  essentially  rationalistic,  and  the  He 
gelian,  which  is  essentially  pantheistic. 

Christ  is  indeed  the  teacher  of  all  saving  truth,  the 
law-giver  and  king  of  his  people,  the  redeemer  and 
Saviour  of  the  world.  But  if  we  ask  what  constituted 
him  all  this,  we  must  reply,  his  own  person,  at  once 
human  and  divine ;  his  life  filled  with  all  the  attributes 
of  God,  and  representing  at  the  same  time  the  highest 
conception  of  nature  and  man ;  complete  and  self-suffi 
cient  in  its  own  fullness,  and  yet  by  this  fullness  itself  the 
principle  of  a  new  corresponding  life-process,  in  the  way 
of  self-communication,  for  the  human  world.  Religion 
in  its  very  nature  is  love.  It  starts  in  this  character 
from  God  as  redeeming  love  to  man,  and  returns  again 
in  the  form  of  human  love  to  its  source ;  a  circling  stream 
from  God  to  God.  Its  highest  manifestation  on  both 
sides,  must  constitute  the  utmost  summit  of  the  religious 
life.  This  we  find  in  Christ  as  the  living  fountain, 
which  sends  its  streams  over  to  the  community  of  be 
lievers,  without  ever  being  exhausted,  or  even  diminished, 
so  that  the  very  last  and  highest  development  of  the 
Church  will  only  be  a  reflection  of  his  glory  and  forever 
centre  around  his  thcanthropic  mediatorial  person. 

But  we  must  proceed  to  Ullmann's  "Reformers  before 
the  Reformation,"  in  two  volumes,  1841-42,  which  form 
now  a  part  of  the  new  series  of  Clark's  Foreign  Theolo- 


ULLMANN.  355 

gical  Library.  This  work  assigns  to  the  author  a  rank 
among  the  first  church  historians  of  the  present  centu 
ry,  and  justified  the  expectation  that  he  would  be  elected 
the  successor  of  Neander  in  Berlin.  It  is  certainly 
one  of  the  strongest  historical  arguments  for  the  Re 
formation  which  has  yet  been  presented,  and  under  this 
view  mainly  we  here  direct  attention  to  it. 

The  first  and  principal  justification  of  Protestantism 
lies  in  its  essential  agreement  with  the  New  Testament, 
especially  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Hence  a  certain  Pro 
testant,  when  asked  by  a  Romanist,  "Where  was  your 
religion  before  Luther  ?"  promptly  replied,  "  Where  yours 
never  was,  in  the  Bible."  If  this  argument  be  well  found 
ed,  it  cannot  be  neutralized  by  any  amount  of  tradition. 
We  are  far  from  undervaluing  the  testimony  of  ecclesi 
astical  antiquity.  But  of  what  avail  are  all  quotations 
from  the  school-men  and  the  fathers,  great  and  good,  yet 
erring  men  as  they  were,  in  favor  of  this  or  that  Romish 
dogma  or  usage,  as  long  as  we  have  the  inspired  and 
unerring  word  of  God  on  our  side,  and  as  long  as  we  can 
point  to  the  epistles  of  the  Romans  and  Galatians,  as  the 
grand  charter  of  our  evangelical  liberty  and  direct  com 
munion  with  the  Saviour ! 

The  second  great  argument  for  evangelical  Protes 
tantism  may  be  found  in  the  effects  which  it  produced  in 
the  religious,  moral  and  intellectual  life  of  those  nations 
which  embraced  it,  and  which  compare  favorably,  to  say 
the  least,  with  all  the  doings  of  Romanism  since  the 
sixteenth  century.  All  the  philosophical  discussions 
about  the  defects  of  the  Protestant  principle  will  fail  to 
carry  ultimate  conviction,  if  it  can  be  proved  by  the  tes- 


356  ULLMANN. 

timony  of  three  hundred  years,  that  it  bore  good  fruit, 
by  which,  the  Saviour  himself  tells  us,  we  should  judge 
the  character  of  the  tree.  We  do  not  mean,  of  course, 
that  Protestantism  in  any  of  its  forms  is  perfect ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  look  for  still  higher  and  better  manifesta 
tions  of  Christianity  in  time  to  come.  But  we  do  main 
tain  that  it  has  done  as  much  good  in  proportion  to  its 
means  and  the  comparatively  short  time  of  its  operation, 
as  any  other  form  of  Christianity,  and  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  a  comparison  in  this  respect  with  either  the 
Greek  or  the  Roman  Church. 

But  Protestantism  needs  another  kind  of  historical 
argument  in  addition  to  this,  in  order  to  be  fully  justi 
fied  as  a  link  in  the  unbroken  chain  of  Christ's  kingdom 
on  earth.  It  must  be  shown  that  it  was  not  an  arbitrary 
outbreak  and  radical  revolution,  as  Romanists  would 
make  us  believe,  but  a  necessary  product  of  the  preced 
ing  life  of  the  church,  and  a  real  reformation  with  a 
positive  Christian  principle  that  carried  the  previous  life 
of  the  Church  to  a  higher  position. 

This  argument  again  has  a  negative  and  a  positive 
aspect.  It  can  be  made  to  appear,  first,  that  the  Refor 
mation  was  called  forth  as  an  inevitable  reaction  of  the 
better  life  of  the  Church  itself  against  the  many  abuses 
and  corruptions  that  had  crept  into  it  during  the  middle 
ages.  Under  this  view  the  Protestant  was  right,  when 
he  answered  the  question  of  the  Romanist,  "  Where  was 
Protestantism  before  the  Reformation?"  by  the  other 
question,  "  Where  was  your  face  this  morning  before  it 
was  washed?"  But  then,  it  must  be  shown  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  distinctive  principles  of  the  Reformers 


ULLMANN.  357 

were  not  absolutely  new,  but  were  proclaimed  already  in 
previous  centuries,  not  only  by  sectaries,  but  more  clear 
ly  and  fully  by  some  of  the  best  men  within  the  bosom 
of  mediaeval  Catholicism,  so  that  we  may  speak  in  some 
sense  of  a  history  of  Protestantism  before  the  Reforma 
tion  as  well  as  after  it. 

This  is  precisely  the  position  and  object  of  the  work 
before  us.  The  first  attempt  of  the  kind  was  made  by 
Flacius,  the  chief  author  of  the  Magdeburg  Centuries, 
in  his  learned  book  on  the  Testes  Veritatis,  or  Witnesses 
of  the  Evangelical  Truth  in  Catholic  Times.  But  what 
Flacius  attempted  in  a  crude  form  in  the  infancy  of 
Protestant  historiography,  and  with  an  unmeasured 
polemical  zeal  against  the  Romanists  of  his  age,  Ull- 
mann  has  carried  out  with  all  the  help  of  modern  eru 
dition,  in  the  calm,  truth-loving  spirit  of  an  impartial 
historian,  and  with  full  acknowledgment  of  the  great 
and  abiding  merits  of  Catholicism  as  the  Christianize!- 
and  civilizer  of  the  barbarian  nations  of  the  dark  ages. 

o 

With  him,  the  Reformation  is  not  so  much  a  rebellion, 
as  the  flower  and  fruit  rather  of  the  better  and  deeper 
life  of  Christianity,  that  slumbered  in  the  maternal  bosom 
of  mediaeval  Catholicism.  And  this,  it  seems  to  us,  is 
the  noblest  and  strongest  historical  vindication  of  it. 

Ullmann  pays  special  attention  to  the  German  and 
Dutch  forerunners  of  the  Reformation,  from  the  thir 
teenth  to  the  fifteenth  century,  and  treats  them  with 
exhaustive  minuteness  of  detail.  We  find  here  reliable 
and  carefully  sifted  information  on  the  life  and  theology 
of  John  von  Goch,  John  von  Wesel,  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life,  and  the  various  schools  of  the  mystics, 


358  ULLMANN. 

Ruysbroek,  Suso,  Tauler,  Thomas  a  Kempis,  (to  whom 
Ullmann  vindicates,  with  triumphant  success,  the  inimit 
able  book  on  the  Imitation  of  Christ,)  the  anonymous 
author  of  the  curious  tract  on  German  Theology,  (re 
cently  translated  into  English  by  Susanna  Winkworth, 
with  prefaces  from  Chevalier  Bunsen,  and  Rector  Kings- 
ley,)  and  Staupitz,  the  patron  and  early  friend  of  Lu 
ther.  The  latter  and  principal  part  of  the  second  volume 
is  taken  up  with  the  author's  former  monograph  on  John 
Wessel,  in  an  improved  form  which  leaves  but  little  to 
be  added. 

But  the  work  of  Ullmann,  although  very  satisfactory 
as  far  as  it  goes,  does  not  exhaust  the  general  subject, 
which  would  require  two  or  three  additional  volumes. 
He  leaves  out  of  view  the  important  preparatory  move 
ments  of  Wicliffe  and  the  Lollards,  in  England ;  of  Huss 
and  the  Hussites,  in  Bohemia ;  of  Savonarola,  in  Italy, 
and  of  what  is  generally  called  the  Revival  of  Letters 
and  classical  learning  by  such  men  as  Erasmus,  Reuch- 
lin,  Agricola,  not  to  speak  of  the  more  negative  prepa 
ration  of  the  Reformation  by  the  anti-Catholic  sects  of 
the  middle  ages,  especially  the  Waldenses  and  Albigen- 
ses.  A  complete  work  on  this  whole  subject  in  a  con 
densed  and  popular  form  for  the  general  reader,  would 
do  good  service  to  the  cause  of  sound  conservative  Pro 
testantism. 

We  can  only  allude  to  Ullmann's  monograph  on  Gre 
gory  of  Nazianzen,  (1825,)  as  the  most  complete  work 
on  the  life  and  doctrines  of  this  eminent  divine  of  the 
ancient  Greek  church,  who,  for  his  able  defence  of  the 
Nicene  faith,  and  the  divinity  of  Christ,  was  emphati 
cally  styled  the  "Theologian." 


ULLMANN.  359 

Finally,  Ullmann  is  well  known  as  the  chief  founder 
and  editor  of  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken"  which  has 
been  before  the  public  since  the  year  1828,  as  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  learned  theological  journals  of  Ger 
many.  It  contains  many  contributions  of  more  than 
passing  interest  from  his  own  pen,  and  that  of  his  friend 
and  co-editor,  Prof.  Umbreit,  of  Heidelberg,  the  author 
of  valuable  commentaries  on  several  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  also  from  Schleiermacher,  who  suggested 
the  establishment  of  such  a  periodical,  Lucke,  Nitzsch, 
Gieseler,  Tholuck,  Muller,  Bleek,  Hundeshagen,  and 
other  distinguished  divines. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 


II  0  T  II  E . 

Rothe's  Position  and  Genius— His  Theological  Ethics— Views  on  Specula 
tive  Theology,  or  Theosophy — His  Work  on  the  Primitive  Church — 
Views  on  the  Origin  of  Episcopacy — Comparison  Avith  Isaac  Taylor 
and  Nevin,  on  Early  Christianity — Rothe's  Theory  of  the  Church  as 
related  to  the  State,  and  its  final  dissolution  into  a  new  Theocracy- 
Critical  Remarks. 

DR.  RICHARD  ROTHE,  a  cotemporary  and  early  friend 
of  Tholuck,  Miiller,  and  Olshausen,  was  formerly  Direc 
tor  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Wittenberg ;  for  a 
short  time,  like  Tholuck,  chaplain  of  the  Prussian  em 
bassy  at  Rome,  at  the  time  when  Bunsen  -occupied  the 
legation ;  then  Professor  and  Seminary  Director  in  Hei 
delberg.  In  1849,  he  succeeded  Dr.  Nitzsch  in  Bonn ; 
but  in  1853  or  '54,  he  returned  to  Heidelberg  to  take 
the  place  of  Ullmann,  and  will  probably  spend  there 
the  rest  of  his  days.  He  is  exceedingly  popular  as  a 
teacher,  and  enjoys  the  respect  and  admiration  of  all 
who  know  him  personally  as  a  most  excellent  man  and 
humble  Christian.  But  out  of  Germany  he  is  little 
known,  and  will  only  be  read  and  appreciated  by  those 
who  take  a  very  special  interest  in  the  more  remote 
speculations  and  researches  of  German  theology. 

We  must  assign  to  Rothe  the  very  first  place  among 


ROTHE.  361 

the  speculative  divines  of  the  present  day.  He  sur 
passes  even  Nitzsch,  Miiller,  Dorner,  Martensen,  and 
Baur  in  vigorous  grasp  and  independence  of  thought,  and 
is  hardly  inferior  in  this  respect  to  Schleiermacher.  But 
like  him,  he  is  too  original  in  his  views  to  form  a  school 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term.  He  will  always  occupy 
an  isolated  position,  and  be  a  pilgrim  and  stranger  in 
the  surrounding  world.  Of  this  he  is  himself  painfully 
conscious,  but  cannot  help  it.  His  province  is  rather 
to  stir  up  and  stimulate  the  youthful  mind,  and  to  open 
new  paths  for  theological  speculation. 

His  principal  production  is  the  System  of  Theologi 
cal  Ethics,  or  Moral  Theology,  in  three  volumes,  1845- 
'48.  We  regard  it  as  the  greatest  work  on  speculative 
divinity  which  has  appeared  since  Schleiermacher's  Dog 
matics — full  of  power,  boldness,  and  originality.  It  is 
truly  a  work  of  art  as  well  as  of  science,  and  the  seve 
ral  stones  of  the  ethical  system  are  reared  up  here  into 
a  magnificent  Gothic  cathedral  by  the  skill  of  a  master 
architect.  Those  who  formed  their  idea  of  this  impor 
tant  science  from  such  books  as  Dr.  Wayland's  popular 
Moral  Philosophy,  will  lose  both  sight  and  hearing  be 
fore  they  have  read  two  pages  of  the  work  before  us. 
But  those  who  are  accustomed  to  go  beneath  the  shal 
low  surface  of  things  to  the  fundamental  principles  and 
general  laws  of  the  moral  universe,  will  feel  amply  re 
paid  by  a  careful  study  of  it,  however  often  they  may 
be  compelled  to  differ  toto  coelo  from  the  author's  views. 

Rothe's  Ethics  are  in  some  sense  a  complete  system  of 
speculative  theology,  or  theosophy.  He  defines  ethics 
to  be  the  science  of  the  moral :  but  he  understands  the 
31 


362  ROTIIE. 

mor.il  (das  Sittliche)  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  word,  so 
as  to  include  in  it  the  whole  life  of  the  human  mind, 
viewed  as  a  mastery  of  the  material  nature  by  the  ra 
tional  personality,  or  a  process  of  transformation  of 
nature  into  the  spirit ;  and  this  life  not  only  in  its  in 
dividual  form,  but  also  in  all  the  social  relations  of  the 
family,  science  and  art,  Church  and  State.  He  then 
handles  his  subject  under  the  threefold  aspect  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  good,  (Guterlehre,)  the  doctrine  of  virtue, 
(Tugendlehre^  and  the  doctrine  of  duties,  (Pflichten- 
lehre.)  In  the  introduction  and  in  the  first  part  he 
discusses  profoundly  and  yet  clearly  the  fundamental 
questions  and  general  principles,  and  leads  the  reader 
through  the  abstrusest  regions  of  thought  up  to  the 
giddy  height  of  speculation,  until  in  spirit  he  attains 
to  the  complete  realization  of  the  idea  of  morality, 
viz.,  the  absolute  dominion  of  mind  over  matter,  or  of 
reason  over  nature,  or  the  perfect  kingdom  of  Christ 
upon  the  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  He 
is,  however,  well  aware  that  science  and  life  are  by  no 
means  commensurate,  and  that  speculation  of  the  widest 
grasp  and  the  keenest  insight  can  only  afford  a  relative 
degree  of  satisfaction.  "Woe's  me  !"  he  says  as  mod 
estly  as  beautifully,  "  if  God  and  the  world  do  not  con 
tinue  beyond  all  measure  greater  to  me  than  my  own 
idea  of  them."  In  the  two  following  parts,  especially 
the  third,  he  descends  gradually  into  the  more  familiar 
regions  of  the  concrete  moral  life,  and  unfolds  some  of 
the  most  exalted  and  noble  views  respecting  the  different 
virtues  and  duties  of  a  Christian  man,  such  as  one  seeks 
in  vain  for  in  most  of  the  popular  manuals  of  moral 
philosophy. 


KOT1IE.  363 

Dr.  Rothe  professes  to  know  nothing  of  philosophy 
and  the  wisdom  of  this  world.  Like  Schleiermacher,  he 
wishes  to  keep  it  entirely  distinct  and  separate  from 
theology.  And  yet  an  English  and  American  reader 
would  find  the  theological  writings  of  both  these  eminent 
authors  replete  with  philosophy. 

To  solve  this  apparent  contradiction,  we  must  remem 
ber,  in  the  first  place,  that  Rothe  is  no  follower  of  any 
other  man's  philosophy.  He  has  evidently  learnt  much 
from  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher,  but  their  ideas  under 
go  a  process  of  transformation  in  his  brain,  and  come 
out  as  something  altogether  new  and  original. 

In  the  next  place,  we  must  make  a  distinction  be 
tween  philosophical  and  theological  speculation.  The 
first  starts  from  self-consciousness,  the  Cartesian  princi 
ple  cogito,  ergo  sum,  and  proceeds  according  to  the  laws 
of  natural  reasoning.  The  second  begins  with  the  con 
sciousness  of  God  in  the  human  soul,  rests  on  religious 
experience,  and  finds  its  objective  contents  provided 
ready  to  its  hand  in  divine  revelation. 

Rothe' s  speculation  is  altogether  of  the  latter  kind. 
As  already  intimated,  he  is  a  theosopher  rather  than  a 
philosopher — like  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  Jacob  Bohm, 
Oetinger,  Baader,  von  Schaden.  The  consciousness  of 
the  Divine  is  to  him  the  primary  datum,  the  starting 
point  for  speculation.  This  consciousness  he  regards  as 
an  immediately  certain  fact,  more  certain  and  undenia 
ble  even  than  self-consciousness.  We  may  quote  here  in 
further  illustration  some  characteristic  sentences  from 
the  introductory  sections  of  Rothe's  Theological  Ethics, 
which  will  give  the  reader  a  pretty  clear  idea  of  his 
whole  speculative  stand-point  and  method. 


364  ROTIIE. 

"  Piety,"  he  says,  "has  already  essentially  ceased  to 
be  piety,  so  soon  as  it  needs  for  its  certitude  a  proof 
either  of  its  own  reality,  or  that  of  its  object.  The 
confession  of  the  pious  is  this  :  God  is  as  immediately 
certain  to  me  as  myself,  because  I  cannot  feel  or  con 
ceive  of  the  consciousness  and  the  thought  of  myself  in 
any  other  way,  than  as  immediately  connected  with  the 
feeling  and  the  thought  of  God ;  self-consciousness  can 
not  complete  itself  within  me  without  the  Divine  con 
sciousness  ;  or,  rather,  God  is  to  me  more  immediately 
certain  than  myself;  for  in  the  light  of  my  Divine 
consciousness  my  self-consciousness  first  truly  realizes 
itself:  God  is  to  me  the  absolutely  and  immediately 
certain,  and  1  become  first  truly  certain  of  myself  by 
means  of  my  certainty  of  God."  Then,  speaking  of  the 
difference  of  philosophical  and  theological  speculation, 
he  remarks  :  "  However  nearly  they  may  be  related  to 
each  other,  yet,  in  form,  they  must  always  be  distinct ; 
for  though  proceeding  by  one  and  the  same  law,  yet 
they  go  two  different  roads,  because  they  start  from  two 
different  points.  Both  construe  the  universe  a  priori: 
philosophical  speculation  thinks  and  comprehends  it  by 
virtue  of  the  idea  of  self,  theological  speculation  by 
virtue  of  the  idea  of  God,  on  which  account  it  is  called 
theosophy.  Theological  speculation  can  only  begin  with 
the  idea  of  God  ;  philosophical  speculation,  which  ap 
parently  cannot  begin  with  it,  will  be  obliged  to  end 
by  it,  when  everything  else  is  brought  into  order  and 
harmony." 

This  religious  or  theological  speculation,  he  goes  on  to 
show,  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  piety  as  the  condition  of  its 


ROTHE.  365 

inward  certitude,  which  is  primary,  absolute,  and  alto 
gether  independent  upon  any  demonstration  of  the  logical 
understanding;  but  it  is  necessary,  in  order  that  piety 
might  truly  comprehend  itself.  "  Piety  (and  that  of  a 
Christian  character)  is  essentially  an  affair  of  the  whole 
man :  he  only  is  truly  pious  who  is  so,  or  wishes  to  be 
so  with  his  whole  being ;  not  only  with  all  his  feelings 
and  impulses,  but  also  with  all  the  faculties  of  the  under 
standing  and  powers  of  the  will.  On  the  side  of  the 
self-consciousness  piety  is,  primitively  speaking,  an  affair 
of  feeling,  as  on  the  side  of  activity  an  affair  of  impulse ; 
but  by  virtue  of  an  inward  necessity  it  cannot  remain 
so.  Without  destroying  itself,  as  religious  feeling,  it 
marches  onwards,  by  virtue  of  its  own  inward  vital  energy, 
to  religious  thinking ;  first  of  all,  to  mere  reflection,  but 
then  afterwards  to  religious  speculation.  In  this  way 
it  makes  good  to  the  understanding  its  original,  imme 
diate,  and  (on  the  side  of  feeling)  absolute  certitude  ;  and, 
however  superfluously,  furnishes  a  proof  for  its  own 
truth.  But  piety  adduces  this  proof,  not  in  order  to  de 
monstrate  to  itself  its  own  certitude,  but  in  order  for 
mally  to  expound  the  foundation  of  the  same.  Theo 
logical  speculation  thus  springs  out  of  an  immediate  re 
ligious  life ;  out  of  the  immediate  desire  of  piety  itself 
clearly  to  understand  all  it  possesses,  to  know  what  in 
finite  riches  lie  hidden  in  its  spontaneous  fullness,  while 
yet  in  its  immediate  and  unreflective  form.  (Comp.  \ 
Cor.  ii.  12.)  Thinking,  and  that  speculative  thinking, 
is,  therefore,  to  it  an  absolute  necessity,  in  exactly  the 
same  proportion  in  which  the  function  of  thought  gene 
rally  is  developed  in  the  religious  individual.  Religious 


366  ROTHE. 

speculation  has,  therefore,  its  motive  and  occasion,  not 
by  any  means  in  religious  skepticism,  but,  on  the  con 
trary,  in  an  unconditioned  religious  vitality.  In  the 
plenitude  of  its  absolute  certainty,  it  is  bold  enough  to 
consider  even  speculation  as  a  province  springing  out  of 
itself,  and  to  venture  on  its  conquest.  In  the  inspira 
tion  of  this  most  joyous  self-confidence,  it  trusts  itself 
fearlessly  upon  the  ocean  of  thought,  well  assured  that 
it  will  not  be  overwhelmed  in  it.  That  it  must  be  ulti 
mately  successful  in  speculating  upon  itself,  it  is  well 
assured  from  the  immediate  unconditioned  certainty  of 
its  own  absolute  reality ;  but  even  in  the  feeling  of  its 
own  exuberance,  it  says  freely  to  itself  that  it  can  only 
succeed  by  a  slow  process,  and  by  the  concentration  of 
all  its  powers." 

As  to  the  creed  of  the  Church,  Eothe  occupies  a  very 
independent  relation  to  it.  This  follows  very  naturally 
from  his  views  of  the  Church,  which  he  does  by  no  means 
identify  with  Christianity,  as  we  shall  sec  more  fully 
hereafter.  He  boldly  asserts  that  speculative  theology 
must  be  heterodox,  in  a  good  sense  of  the  term;  for 
it  rises  from  the  fact,  that  reason  no  longer  finds  in 
the  dogmas  of  the  Church  a  satisfactory  expression  of 
Christian  truth,  and  seeks  to  elevate  them  to  a  higher 
form,  and  to  present  them  under  new  aspects.  Accord 
ingly,  his  views  on  the  Trinity,  his  Christology  and  So- 
teriology  agree  neither  with  the  Lutheran,  nor  the  Re 
formed,  nor  any  other  existing  orthodoxy.  They  stand 
alone  as  ingenious  attempts  to  give  these  doctrines  a 
new  scientific  shape  and  form.  Quite  different,  how 
ever,  is  the  relation  of  speculative  theology  to  the  Holy 


ROTHE.  367 

Scriptures  in  the  Evangelical  Church.  As  the  authentic 
expression  of  Christianity  in  its  original  freshness  and 
purity,  they  are,  according  to  Rothe,  the  indispensable 
Canon  and  rule  for  all  branches  of  theology.  Whenever 
theological  speculation  contradicts  the  Scriptures,  it  must 
be  in  error,  and  must  confess  its  results  to  be  abortive. 
Its  highest  aim  should  be  rather  to  furnish  a  key  for 
opening  the  full  sense  of  the  Bible  beyond  the  past  and 
present  state  of  knowledge  in  the  various  denominations. 
In  its  procedure,  speculative  theology  must,  indeed,  be 
guided,  says  Rothe,  by  the  requisitions  of  thought,  and 
the  authority  of  logic  and  dialectics.  But  at  the  end  of 
its  independent  labor,  it  approaches  the  tribunal  of  the 
Scriptures,  and,  conscious  of  its  own  .weakness,  it  sub 
mits  itself  unconditionally  to  their  infallible  judgment. 
He  does  not  inform  us,  however,  who  is  to  decide  the 
true  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  case  of  dissent. 

Rothe's  theology  or  theosophy,  then,  while  it  is  in 
dependent  of,  and  partly  at  war  with,  the  particular 
systems  of  Church  orthodoxy  as  expressed  in  the  sym 
bolical  books,  professes  and  sincerely  wishes  to  be  agreed 
with  Christianity  as  contained  in  the  Bible.  In  a  beautiful 
passage  of  the  preface,  he  solemnly  declares  that,  "  un 
conditional  faith  in  Christ  as  the  real  and  only  Redeemer, 
and  love  to  him,  is  the  animating  principle  of  his  theo 
logical  speculation,"  that  Christ  is  to  him  "the  sanctis- 
simum  of  humanity,  the  highest  which  ever  entered  the 
consciousness  of  man,  a  sunrise  in  history,  which  alone 
sheds  light  over  all  the  objects  that  fall  under  our  ob 
servation." 

But  here  the  question  arises,  Is  it  right  and  safe  to 


368  ROTHE. 

make  such  a  distinction  between  Christianity  and  the 
Church  ? 

This  leads  us  to  speak  of  another  remarkable  book  of 
this  eminent  scholar,  which  made  great  sensation  in  its 
day,  "  Die  Anf tinge  der  christlichen  Kirche,  und  ihrer 
Verfassung"  of  which  the  first  volume  appeared  in  1837. 
The  second  volume,  though  long  completed  in  manu 
script,  was  never  published. 

This  work  on  the  Primitive  Church  has  a  historical, 
and  a  philosophical  aspect.  The  body  of  it  is  a  most 
learned  and  elaborate  discussion  on  the  organization  of 
ancient  Christianity,  the  rise  of  episcopacy,  and  the  de 
velopment  of  the  catholic  idea  of  the  church  from  the 
days  of  the  apostles  to  the  age  of  St.  Augustin.  The 
author  tries  to  show  that  the  episcopal  supervision  grew 
out  of  the  wants  of  the  Church  towards  the  end  of  the 
first  century,  under  the  direct  sanction  of  the  surviving 
apostles,  especially  St.  John  in  Asia  Minor,  and  found 
its  way  instinctively  into  all  parts  of  Christendom,  as  a 
substitute  for  the  apostolical  office,  and  the  only  form  of 
government  which  promised  to  secure  the  unity  and  to 
maintain  the  identity  of  the  Church  during  those  times 
of  bloody  persecution  from  without,  and  heretical  per 
version  from  within. 

Under  this  view,  Rothe's  Anfange  are  a  real  master 
piece  of  critical  research  on  one  of  the  most  difficult  and 
obscure  topics  of  ancient  Church  history.  I  know  of  no 
Anglican  work  that  could  at  all  compare  with  it  in  well 
digested  learning,  penetrating  sagacity  and  power  of 
combination,  and  make  out  so  strong  a  case  for  the  apos 
tolical  origin  and  historical  necessity  of  episcopacy.  But 


ROTHE.  869 

he  lays  too  much  stress  upon  many  vague  and  unreliable 
traditions,  and  his  very  ingenuity  and  talent  of  critical 
combination  leads  him  astray  to  hasty  conclusions. 
Hence  there  is  not  a  single  German  historian,  (Thiersch 
may  be  mentioned  as  an  exception,  but  he  is  an  Irvin- 
gite,)  who  has  adopted  his  view. 

The  standpoint  of  Rothe,  however,  is  very  different 
from  that  of  high  church  Anglican  divines,  on  the 
same  subject.  He  has  no  intention  to  defend  the  Epis 
copal  hierarchy  in  itself  against  Presbyterianism,  or 
Congregationalism,  or  any  other  ecclesiastical  constitu 
tion  of  the  present  time.  On  the  contrary,  he  regards 
it  as  a  merely  temporary  institution,  which  was  destined 
to  pass  away  and  to  make  room  for  other  forms  of  or 
ganization.  His  only  design  is  to  illustrate  Episcopacy 
in  its  natural  rise  out  of  the  needs  of  the  Church  when 
she  had  become  widowed,  so  to  speak,  by  the  departure 
of  the  apostles,  and  in  its  historical  necessity  for  the 
earliest  centuries, — and  this  in  organic  connection  with 
the  whole  ancient  idea  of  the  Church  as  the  body  of 
Christ,  as  a  visible  unity,  that  connects  itself  Avith  the 
apostles  by  an  outward,  tangible  and  unbroken  succes 
sion  in  doctrine  and  discipline.  His  book  would  prove 
too  much  for  the  Anglicans,  inasmuch  as  they  detach 
the  Episcopal  forms  from  those  catholic  ideas  which  pro 
duced,  at  a  later  period,  under  the  same  historical  ne 
cessity  and  monarchical  impulse,  the  Metropolitan,  Pa 
triarchal,  and  Papal  constitutions,  and  thus  carried  up 
the  hierarchical  organization  to  a  pyramidical  apex,  until 
this  was  broken  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and 
gave  way  to  the  various  forms  of  Protestantism.  Rothe 


370  ROTHE. 

has  shown  beyond  successful  contradiction,  we  think, 
that  the  animus  and  tendency  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries,  as  regards  the  idea  of  the  Church  and  its  at 
tributes  of  unity,  catholicity,  holiness  and  apostolicity, 
was  not  Protestant,  but  strongly  Catholic,  and  found  its 
natural  completion  in  the  Roman  primacy  as  the  visible 
centre  of  unity. 

In  this  respect,  his  "  Anfange'  form  an  interesting 
parallel  to  Isaac  Taylor's  "Ancient  Christianity,"  a 
very  learned  and  able  work,  which  was  intended  origin 
ally  to  be  an  indirect  refutation  of  Puseyism.  It  makes 
out  a  strong  case  indeed  against  it  on  its  owrn  historical 
ground.  For  it  proves  successfully  that  the  Nicene  age 
which  the  Oxford  school  holds  up,  with  pedantic  zeal,  as 
the  true  type  of  primitive  Catholicity,  in  opposition  to 
Romanism  as  well  as  Protestantism,  was  already  deci 
dedly  Romanizing  in  doctrine,  discipline  and  mode  of 
piety,  and  that  the  later  Romanism,  instead  of  being  an 
apostacy  from  the  Christianity  of  Basil  and  Ambrose, 
of  Cyril  and  Jerome,  was  its  natural  development,  arid 
in  many  respects  even  an  improvement  upon  it.  He 
makes  large  use  of  Salvianus,  who,  although  himself  a 
Catholic,  gives  an  appalling  picture  of  the  moral  corrup 
tions  of  the  Christians  of  his  age,  as  contrasted  with  the 
heathen  barbarians.  Taylor  shows  also,  by  ample  quo 
tations,  that  some  of  the  most  distinguished  champions 
of  the  Church  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  carried 
the  fondness  for  miracles,  the  idolatrous  veneration  of 
saints  and  relics,  and  the  glorification  of  human  works, 
of  monastic  and  ascetic  piety,  voluntary  poverty  and 
celibacy,  etc.,  fully  as  far,  if  not  farther,  than  the  di 
vines  of  the  fully  grown  Papacy. 


ROTHE.  371 

Dr.  Nevin,  in  his  famous  articles  on  Early  Christian 
ity,  and  on  Cyprian,  in  the  Mercersbury  Review,  dis 
cussed  the  same  subject  as  Taylor,  with  equal  vigor  and 
earnestness,  but  with  the  opposite  intention  not  to  attack 
the  error,  but  to  defend  the  truth  which  underlies  the 
old  catholic  doctrines  and  usages,  to  point  out  the  anta 
gonism  of  modern  unchurchly  and  unsacramental  Puri 
tanism  with  the  theology  of  the  oecumenical  creeds,  and 
to  show  the  necessity  of  some  theory  of  historical  deve 
lopment  in  order  to  reconcile  Protestantism  with  the 
idea  of  an  unbroken  Church  in  the  world,  and  with  the 
age  of  martyrs  and  confessors. 

Dr.  Rothe  has  no  polemical  reference  either  to  Pusey- 
ism,  as  Taylor,  or  to  Puritanism,  as  Nevin.  Nor  is  he 
troubled  in  the  least  by  the  real  or  apparent  difference 
between  the  modern  Protestant  and  the  ancient  Catholic 
Christianity.  With  all  his  admission  of  the  essentially 
Romanizing  tendency  of  the  age  of  Ignatius,  Cyprian  and 
Leo,  and  with  all  his  regard  for  this  form  of  Christian 
ity,  as  a  great  historical  phenomenon,  he  is  as  decidedly 
and  thoroughly  Protestant  in  his  constitution  and  con 
viction  as  Neander,  who  puts  a  somewrhat  different  face 
upon  the  patristic  theology,  and  regards  it  as  more 
nearly  approaching  in  spirit  to  sound  evangelical  Pro 
testantism  than  Rothe. 

This  appears  clearly  from  the  philosophical  portion  of 
his  work  on  the  Primitive  Church.  In  the  First  Book, 
(pp.  1-138,)  for  which  he  expresses  more  concern  than 
for  all  the  rest,  he  analyzes  at  length  the  relation  of  the 
Church  to  Christianity,  and  arrives  at  the  startling  con 
clusion  that  the  Church  is  merely  a  transient  form  of 


372  ROTIIE. 

Christianity,  arid  must  resolve  itself  at  last  into  the 
State.  This  view  drew  upon  him  sharp  attacks  not  only 
from  his  own  former  friend,  Hengstenberg,  and  other 
orthodox  reviewers,  but  even  from  theologians  of  the 
Hegelian  school,  whose  philosophical  assumptions  seem 
logically  to  lead  to  a  similar  result.  Hence  he  never 
published  the  second  volume. 

To  do  him  justice,  we  must  remember  that  Rothe  starts 
with  an  ideal  conception  of  the  State  which  has  as  yet  no 
where  been  realized.  He  understands  by  it  a  thoroughly 
Christianized  community  of  nations,  a  family  of  God  em 
bracing  the  whole  of  mankind.  He  has,  of  course,  not  the 
remotest  thought,  that  Christianity  which  he  regards  as 
the  absolute  and  perfect  religion,  will  ever  perish ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  contemplates  its  complete  triumph  over 
the  world.  But  he  makes  a  distinction  between  Chris 
tianity  or  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  the  Church,  and 
maintains  that  the  perfect  realization  of  the  former  is 
that  of  a  State,  or  a  kingdom,  as  the  very  name  seems 
to  indicate.  His  opinion  is  that  the  Christian  religion 
will  so  interpenetrate  the  whole  moral  life  of  mankind, 
and  become  so  naturalized  in  all  the  relations  of  society, 
that  there  will  be  no  longer  any  room  left  at  last  for  a 
separate  and  distinct  religious  organization,  i.  e.,  for  a 
Church,  but  that  the  Church  itself  will  pass  over  into  a 
Divine  State  or  theocracy  including  all  nations. 

This  process  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Church,  our  author 
thinks,  is  very  slow,  and  may  require  many  centuries  or 
thousands  of  years  for  its  completion.  But  it  has  ac 
tually  commenced  with  the  Reformation  that  destroyed 
the  outward  unity,  so  essential  to  the  nature  of  the 


ROTHE.  373 

Church  as  a  body.  The  old  Protestant  divines  still  re 
tained  the  Catholic  idea  of  the  Church,  while  they  had 
lost  its  reality,  by  making  a  distinction  between  the  vi 
sible  and  invisible  Church,  and  ascribing  the  attributes  of 
unity,  catholicity  and  holiness  to  the  latter  only,  and  not 
to  the  former.  This  whole  distinction,  however,  he  re 
gards  as  untenable,  since  the  very  conception  of  the 
Church  requires  an  organization,  and  consequently  visi 
bility.  The  fact  is  that  the  Church  has  since  that  time 
broken  up  more  and  more  into  an  indefinite  number  of 
confessions,  denominations  and  sects,  and  the  tendency 
of  Protestantism  is,  not  to  reconstruct  the  former  or 
ganization  of  Christianity,  but  to  prepare  for  it  gra 
dually  a  new  and  higher  form  of  existence  in  the  natural 
order  of  society,  i.  e.,  the  State. 

But  here  we  must  ask,  Has  the  State  advanced  in 
Christian  character  in  proportion  as  the  Church  lost  her 
power  ?  Has  it  not  shown  of  late  a  disposition  in  Eu 
rope  (think  of  the  first  French  revolution,  and  the  revolu 
tions  of  1848,)  to  emancipate  itself  not  only  from  the 
control  and  influence  of  the  Church,  but  from  Chris 
tianity  and  religion  altogether,  and  to  set  itself  up  on 
an  atheistic  and  materialistic  basis  ?  And  if  we  look  to 
America,  the  land  of  the  future,  does  it  not  present  a 
complete  separation  of  Church  and  State  without  the 
least  disposition  on  the  side  of  the  former  to  resolve  it 
self  into  the  latter,  and  to  entrust  the  care  of  religion 
to  statesmen  and  politicians  ?  And  has  not,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  recent  revival  of  Christianity  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  both  in  Protestantism  and  Romanism,  been 
at  the  same  time  a  revival  of  the  Churches  and  their 
32 


374  ROTHE. 

peculiar  institutions  ?  Does  not  Rothe's  view,  if  it  is 
to  be  carried  into  practice,  impose  upon  the  ministers  of 
the  Church  the  suicidal  duty  of  laboring  for  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Church,  that  the  ideal  Christian  State  may 
the  more  speedily  appear  ? 

These  are  only  some  of  the  difficulties  and  objections 
to  this  interesting,  but  singular  theory.  I  had  a  long 
conversation  with  the  excellent  Dr.  Rothe,  in  1854,  on 
this  topic,  and  pressed  upon  his  consideration  especially 
the  independent  position  of  the  spiritual  and  secular 
powers  in  our  own  country,  which  seems  to  indicate 
strongly  that  Church  history,  in  the  new  world  at  least, 
moves  in  a  direction  the  very  opposite  of  his  speculation. 
He  denied  the  force  of  the  objection,  inasmuch  as  in  the 
United  States  Christianity  had  ceased  to  be  a  power  and 
organization  over  against  the  people,  or  outside  of  it,  a 
hierarchy,  a  priesthood,  a  particular  caste,  or  whatever 
you  may  call  it,  and  had  become,  or  promised  to  become, 
a  truly  national  concern,  the  voluntary  expression  of  the 
people's  will,  an  inherent  element  of  the  general  life, 
and  that  was  the  very  thing  he  wanted. 

Yet  Christianity  exists  in  the  United  States  in  the 
form  of  churches,  nourished  by  the  means  of  grace,  and 
these  churches  are  clearly  determined  to  maintain  their 
independence  of  the  State  government,  with  all  due  re 
spect  for  the  civil  authority  in  all  temporal  matters.  It 
is  true  the  churches  are  divided.  But  can  they  not  be 
united  by  a  new  reformation  ?  It  is  true  that  none  of 
the  existing  ecclesiastical  organizations  can  be  regarded 
as  perfect  and  final,  and  hence  the  folly  of  every  form 
of  exclusive  denominationalism  or  sectarianism.  Chris- 


ROTHE.  375 

tianity  is  infinitely  larger,  broader,  richer,  deeper,  than 
any  of  the  visible  church  organizations  that  exist  at 
present,  or  have  existed  in  times  past.  So  far  Rothe  is 
perfectly  right.  We  hold,  also,  that  Christianity  tends 
to  naturalize  itself  more  and  more  in  the  world,  but  not 
with  the  view  to  be  secularized,  but  rather  to  spiritualize 
the  world  and  to  transform  it  into  the  heavenly  king 
dom.  We  think  it  very  likely  that  the  separate  exist 
ence  of  Church  and  State  is  merely  a  transition  to  a 
final  union  of  them  in  a  theocracy,  where  God  will  be 
all  in  all. 

But  instead  of  saying  that  the  Church  shall  be  dis 
solved  into  the  State,  we  would  rather  reverse  Kothe's 
formula  and  say,  that  the  State  shall  be  transformed  into 
the  Church,  and  all  the  kingdoms  and  powers  of  this 
world  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  God,  that  Christ 
may  rule  king  of  nations,  as  he  now  ruleth  king  of  saints 
in  the  Church  which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that 
filleth  all  in  all. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 


D  0  11  N  E  R  . 

Personal  Notice — Dorner's  Theological  Position  and  Early  Popularity — 
His  History  of  Christology — Other  Literary  Labors — Relation  to  the 
Practical  Questions  of  the  Age. 

DR.  J.  A.  DORNER,  one  of  the  ablest  speculative 
divines  of  the  age,  is  the  son  of  a  clergyman  in  Wur- 
temberg,  graduated  at  the  University  of  Tubingen  as  the 
first  in  his  class,  made  a  literary  journey  to  the  North 
of  Germany,  Holland  and  England,  and  returned  to  his 
alma  mater  as  Repetent,  (fellow  and  tutor.)  After  the 
death  of  the  venerable  Steudel,  the  last  of  the  super- 
naturalists  of  the  old  order,  he  was  elected  his  successor 
as  professor  of  systematic  theolgy,  in  1838,  before  he 
had  attained  the  usual  age  for  such  an  important  post. 
I  heard  his  first  course  of  lectures,  on  apologetics  and 
dogmatics,  into  which  he  threw  the  whole  energy  of  his 
mind,  laboring  to  prove  the  harmony  of  Christian  the 
ology  and  sound  philosophy,  and  making  the  dialectics 
of  Schleiermacher  and  Hegel  subservient  to  the  defence 
of  the  truths  of  revelation,  while  Dr.  Baur  employed  his 
genius  and  learning,  and  the  same  categories  of  Hegel, 
for  the  opposite  purpose  of  undermining  the  historical 
foundations  of  Christianity.  He  formed  thus,  in  con 
nection  with  the  excellent  Dr.  Schmid,  a  powerful  oppo- 


DORNER.  377 

sition  to  the  so-called  Tubingen  School,  which  just  then 
unfolded  its  greatest  activity  and  influence.  A  few 
years  afterwards,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  University 
of  Kiel  in  Holstein,  and  subsequently  to  Konigsberg; 
from  thence  to  Bonn,  and  finally,  in  1853,  to  Gbttingen. 

Dorner  combines  profound  learning,  critical  penetra 
tion  and  power  of  generalization,  with  an  earnest  Chris 
tian  spirit.  He  is  thoroughly  trained  in  the  ancient  and 
modern  schools  of  philosophy,  and  gave  evidence,  on  his 
first  appearance  before  the  public,  of  his  ability  to  defeat 
the  pantheistic  Hegelians  with  their  own  weapons,  and 
thus  to  do  most  important  service  at  that  particular 
crisis  of  German  theology.  Hence  his  sudden  popu 
larity,  and  the  many  calls  which  urged  him  from  one 
university  to  another,  to  the  injury  perhaps  of  his  lite 
rary  labors. 

He  owes  his  early  reputation  to  a  truly  valuable, 
and  we  may  say,  classical  history  of  Christology, 
(Entwicklungsgeschiclite  der  Lehre  von  der  Person 
Ohristij)  from  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age  down  to  the 
present  time.  It  appeared  first  in  1836  and  '37,  in  the 
Theological  Quarterly  Review  of  Tubingen,  since  dis 
continued,  and  then,  somewhat  enlarged,  as  a  separate 
volume.  Subsequently,  the  author  re-wrote  it  entirely, 
and  more  than  doubled  its  size.  The  first  volume  of  the 
second  edition,  which  comes  down  to  the  (Ecumenical 
Council  of  Constantinople,  A.  D.  381,  and  embraces  not 
less  than  1130  pages,  was  published  in  1845;  the  second 
and  last  volume,  which  will  be  equal  in  size,  is  not  quite 
finished  to  this  day,  owing  no  doubt  in  part  to  the 
author's  frequent  changes  of  residence. 

32* 


378  DORNER. 

In  this  greatly  improved  form,  the  work  before  us  is 
the  most  elaborate  and  complete  history  of  the  ecclesias 
tical  doctrine  of  Christ's  person,  viewed  in  close  connec 
tion  with  the  inseparable  dogmas  of  the  Incarnation  and 
the  Holy  Trinity,  and  will  be  quoted  as  an  authority  for 
a  long  time  to  come.  The  subject  is  of  central  import 
ance  to  the  whole  system  of  theology.  It  is  doubly  so 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  latest  and  most  subtle  forms 
of  infidelity  were  principally  directed  against  the  Gospel 
history  and  the  theanthropic  foundation  of  the  Christian 
Church.  Shortly  before  the  first  edition  of  Dorner's 
Christology,  Strauss,  his  fellow  student,  had  published 
the  famous  Life  of  Jesus,  (1835,)  and  soon  afterwards 
Dr.  Baur,  his  former  teacher,  and  colleague,  came  out 
with  three  most  learned  volumes  on  the  history  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  on  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation 
of  God,  (1841— '43.)  The  second  edition  of  Dorner's 
work  frequently  alludes  to  this  and  other  productions  of 
the  Tubingen  School,  and  it  may  be  regarded,  to  a  con 
siderable  extent,  as  a  positive  refutation  of  their  mytho 
logical  Christology  and  perversions  of  early  doctrine 
history.  The  reader  will  here  find  full,  critical,  well- 
digested  and  reliable  information  on  the  Gnostic,  Ebio- 
nitic,  Arian,  Nestorian,  and  Eutychian  controversies, 
which  resulted  in  the  oecumenical  decisions  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries,  concerning  the  constitution  of  Christ's 
person,  as  held  to  this  day  by  the  orthodox  churches, 
Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic.  This  historical  value  is 
independent  of  the  author's  peculiar  view  on  the  generic 
character  of  Christ's  person,  and  his  hypothesis,  already 
brought  out  by  Irenaeus,  that  the  incarnation  would 


DORNER.  379 

have  taken  place  even  without  the  fall,  as  the  necessary 
completion  of  God's  revelation,  and  the  perfection  of 
man's  nature.  The  style  of  Dorner  is  dignified  and 
scientific,  but  not  free  from  a  somewhat  artificial  and 
stiff  terminology.  This  want  of  simplicity,  in  connec 
tion  with  the  Hegelian  method,  accounts  for  the  preju 
dice  of  Neander  against  his  work,  although  it  gave  way 
somewhat  after  the  great  historian  had  a  personal  in 
terview  with  the  author  in  1843. 

As  to  an  English  translation  which  has  been  spoken 
of  long  since,  both  in  England  and  in  this  country,  it 
would  require  a  hand  of  unusual  skill  and  perseverance. 
We  think  it  more  desirable,  however,  that  some  able 
divine  should  prepare  an  independent  Christological 
work,  on  the  basis  of  the  labors,  not  only  of  Dorner,  but 
also  of  Liebner,  Thomasius,  Lange,  Ullmann,  and  Wil- 
berforce,  (on  the  Incarnation,)  and  condense  the  biblical 
historical  and  dogmatic  material  into  one  volume.  Such 
a  book,  well  executed,  would  fill  a  most  important  place 
in  English  literature.  For  the  solution  of  the  Christ- 
question  is  the  deepest  problem  of  theology  and  the 
necessary  condition  of  the  settlement  of  the  Church- 
question  in  its  widest  application. 

Dr.  Dorner  is  an  occasional  contributor  to  several 
theological  periodicals,  and  to  Herzog's  Encyclopaedia. 
In  July,  1856,  he  commenced,  in  connection  with  Ehren- 
feuchter  of  Gottingen,  Liebner  of  Dresden,  Landerer 
and  Palmer  of  Tiibingen,  and  Weizsacker  of  Stuttgart, 
the  publication  of  a  new  Quarterly,  similar  in  character 
and  tendency  to  the  Studien  und  Kritiken,  under  the 
title  Jahrbiicher  fiir  deutsche  Theologie.  It  is  to  be 


380  DORNER. 

purely  scientific,  and  to  take  no  part  in  the  confessional 
controversies  of  the  day. 

He  is,  however,  by  no  means  indifferent  to  the  more 
practical  questions  of  the  Church.  He  assisted  in  found 
ing  the  German  Church  Diet,  before  which  he  ventured, 
in  1850,  to  express  his  sympathy  with  Holstein  against 
Denmark ;  he  defended  the  liberal  union  principles  of 
the  Gottingen  faculty  against  the  exclusive  confession- 
alism  of  the  clergy  of  Hanover ;  and  took  up  the  pen 
recently,  in  a  review  of  Bunsen's  "  Signs  of  the  Times," 
for  the  cause  of  religious  liberty  against  the  reactionary 
tendencies  of  Stahl  and  Hengstenberg.  His  proper 
province,  however,  is  systematic  and  speculative  divi 
nity,  or  dogmatics  and  ethics.  He  takes  considerable 
interest  in  Anglo-American  Christianity,  and  told  me 
once  that  if  German  theology  was  to  make  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  churches  of  England  and  Scotland, 
it  would  have  to  be  done  mainly  through  the  medium  of 
America. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 


LANQE. 

Lange,  the  Representative  of  Poetical  Theology,  and  Theological  Poetry/— 
His  Excellences  and  Defects — His  Life  of  Christ — His  Christian  Dog 
matics —  Origin  and  Education  —  Early  Productions  —  The  "Land  of 
Glory" — Strauss  called  to  Zurich — A  Republican  Revolution — Lange 
elected  in  his  place — His  Labors  in  Zurich  and  Bonn. 

DR.  JOHN  PETER  LANGE,  professor  of  divinity  in  the 
University  of  Bonn,  is  a  poetical  theologian  and  a  the 
ological  poet.  His  mind  is  genial,  fresh  and  rich, 
abounding  in  original  ideas,  ingenious  speculations  and 
striking  combinations,  and  at  the  same  time  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  vital,  evangelical  Christianity. 
He  has  a  keen  eye  for,  and  a  lively  sympathy  with,  the 
beauties  of  the  Bible.  It  is  to  him  the  highest  poetry 
as  well  as  the  deepest  philosophy.  He  could  heartily 
subscribe  to  what  Coleridge  says  of  poetry,  that  it  is 
"  the  blossom  and  the  fragrancy  of  all  human  know 
ledge,  human  thoughts,  human  emotions,  passions  and 
language;"  and  that  it  carries  with  it  "its  own  exceed 
ing  great  reward,  by  giving  the  habit  of  discovering  the 
good  and  beautiful  in  all  that  meets  and  surrounds  us." 
He  has  an  unbounded  confidence  in  the  absolute  power 
of  Christianity  to  take  up  all  the  relations  of  life,  all 


382  LANGE. 

sciences  and  arts,  to  transform  them  by  its  spirit  and  to 
sanctify  them  to  the  glory  of  God.  "  Nihil  humani  a 
me  alienum  puto,"  and  "  All  is  yours,"  may  be  said  to 
be  the  motto  of  his  theology  and  philosophy. 

It  is  refreshing  and  animating,  after  long  and  close 
application  to  abstruse  science  and  severe  logic,  to  follow 
such  a  highly  gifted  and  deeply  pious  writer  as  Lange, 
in  his  excursions  over  the  green  meadows,  through  the 
wild  forests  and  to  the  lofty  mountains  of  God's  nature 
and  revelation.  His  imagination  soars  at  times  to  the 
region  of  the  clouds  and  beyond  it  to  the  very  portals  of 
the  aland  of  glory,"  where  truth  and  beauty,  theology 
and  poetry,  science  and  art  shall  forever  be  united  in 
the  beatific  vision  and  angelic  praise  of  God,  the  eternal 
fountain  of  all  truth,  beauty,  and  goodness. 

Yet,  after  all,  science  is  not  art,  and  art  is  not  science, 
at  least  in  this  sublunar  world  ;  and  we  should  not  con 
found  their  boundaries.  It  is  well  enough  to  infuse  into 
scientific  discussion  an  imaginative  element  sufficient  to 
give  it  the  charm  of  freshness  and  vivacity,  as  is  the 
case  for  instance  with  the  exegetical  works  of  Olshausen, 
Tholuck  and  LUcke,  and  the  church  history  of  Hase ; 
but  it  must  be  held  under  the  strict  control  of  reason 
and  sober  thought,  and  be  subordinate  altogether  to  the 
main  object  of  instruction.  This  is  not  always  the  case 
with  Dr.  Lange.  He  has  almost  too  much  imagination 
for  a  theologian,  and  too  much  reflection  for  a  poet. 
Many  of  his  views  and  combinations,  however  interest 
ing,  striking  and  suggestive,  cannot  stand  the  test  of 
criticism,  and  must  be  set  down  as  mere  notions  and 
fancies. 


LANGE.  383 

Another  fault  is  his  excess  of  fertility  as  a  writer. 
Even  the  richest  genius  should  prudently  husband  his 
resources,  and  freely  and  closely  apply  the  pruning 
knife  to  the  luxuriant  productions  of  his  pen.  Lange's 
style,  moreover,  although  it  rises  occasionally  into  a 
high  order  of  eloquence  and  beauty,  is,  generally  speak 
ing,  too  redundant  and  prolix,  and  bears  marks  of  hasty 
composition.  To  a  translator  he  offers  unsurmountable 
difficulties,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  any  of  his  books  will 
become  familiar  to  English  readers.  This  is  to  be  re 
gretted  on  account  of  the  excellent  spirit  they  breathe, 
and  the  many  gems  of  pregnant,  sublime  and  suggestive 
thoughts  they  contain. 

Lange's  largest  works  are  a  "Life  of  Jesus,  according 
to  the  Gospels,"  in  three  volumes,  (1844-'47 ;)  a  "His 
tory  of  the  Apostolic  Age,"  in  two  volumes,  (1853-'54;) 
and  a  system  of  "  Christian  Dogmatics,"  (1849-'52,) 
in  three  parts,  of  which  the  first  is  called  "  Philosophi 
cal  Dogmatics,"  the  second,  "Positive  Dogmatics,"  the 
third,  "Applied  (angewandte)  Dogmatics,"  or  "Po 
lemics  and  Irenics."  The  subdivisions  in  the  third 
part,  and  the  ingenious  comparative  delineation  of  reli 
gious  corruptions,  diseases  and  errors  in  Paganism, 
Judaism,  Mohamedanism,  and  Christianity,  would  be 
especially  puzzling  to  an  English  reader  who  is  not  suf 
ficiently  initiated  into  the  deeper  mysteries  of  German 
speculation.  But  these  works,  as  a  whole,  are  noble 
monuments  of  Christian  research  and  piety. 

We  will  select  at  random  a  few  passages  of  the  Dog 
matics,  and  translate  them  as  well  as  we  can,  to  give 
the  reader  an  idea  of  Lange's  speculation  and  style. 


384  LANGE. 

Definition  of  dogma,  (vol.  i.  p.  3.) 

"Genuine  dogmas  are  the  ideal  life-pictures  of  the  race,  in 
which  divinity  and  humanity,  the  world  of  mind  and  the  world  of 
matter,  heaven  and  earth,  the  realm  of  the  idea  and  human  soci 
ety,  are  brought  together  into  one.  They  embrace  the  divine  and 
the  human,  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  contents  of  his  concep 
tion  of  the  world  in  concentrated  forms,  and  in  so  far  constitute 
the  essential  wealth  of  his  conscious  spiritual  life." 

The  Trinity  as  the  law  of  all  life,  (i.  11.) 

"  The  number  one  is  plainly  the  number  of  power,  of  origin, 
and  of  action.  God  is,  first  of  all,  one  as  Almighty,  as  the  Lord 
and  Creator  of  the  world,  as  the  Unchangeable,  the  Fountain  of 
Truth.  Lowest,  and  furthest  from  this  highest  unity,  the  unity 
of  God,  stands  the  unity  of  the  elementary  atom. 

"  But  unity  comes  only  to  its  true  manifestation  in  life ;  and 
polarity,  or  dynamic  twofoldness,  (Zweifaltigkeit,}  is  the  law  of 
life.  The  highest  polarity  is  found  in  the  eternal  Godhead,  in  the 
relation  of  the  Father  to  the  Son.  The  lowest  appears  in  the 
antagonism  of  positive  and  negative  electricity.  It  then  reveals 
itself  in  a  thousand  forms,  in  the  opposite  between  space  and 
matter,  between  centripetal  and  centrifugal  force,  between  day  and 
night,  between  the  root  and  the  stem,  between  the  male  and  the 
female  sex. 

"But  as  long  as  life  comes  out  only  in  the  form  of  polarity,  it 
exhibits  itself  as  bound  and  limited.  The  one  element  requires 
and  excludes,  limits  and  conditions  the  other.  It  is  only  in  trini 
ty,  that  life  first  reveals  itself  as  free  intellectual  life,  as  a  life 
which  reproduces  itself,  and  yet  remains  identical,  in  that  it  loses 
and  finds  itself  again  in  its  polar  opposite. 

"  Hence  three  is  the  completed  one,  the  number  of  self-con 
sciousness,  of  the  Ego,  of  the  spirit,  and  hence  also  of  the  God 
head  as  revealed.  Here  we  have  the  source  of  the  symbolism  of 
numbers,  as  set  forth  of  old  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  philo 
sophy  of  Pythagoras." 

Joharm  Peter  Lange  was  born  (1802)  and  raised  in 


LANGE.  385 

the  neighborhood  of  Elberfeld,  Prussia,  and  in  the  bosom 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church.  To  this  Church  lie  is 
to  this  day  warmly  and  deeply  attached,  but  without 
the  least  bigotry  and  exclusiveness.  For  he  strongly 
believes  in,  and  hopefully  looks  to,  the  final  solution  of 
all  the  discords  of  church  history  in  the  perfect  king 
dom  of  Christ,  that  shall  unite  in  harmony  the  elements 
of  truth  and  beauty  scattered  among  the  various  deno 
minations  of  Christendom.  Even  the  Catholic  Church 
of  the  Middle  Ages  is  to  him  not  an  apostacy,  but  a 
type  and  symbol  rather,  or  a  premature  carnal  anticipa 
tion  of  the  future  glorious  reign  of  Christ  among  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

He  was  originally  a  farmer,  and  was  seen  many  a 
time  to  bring  butter  and  eggs  to  market.  But  he 
managed,  by  honorable  exertion,  to  get  an  education, 
and  to  graduate  at  the  University  of  Bonn.  He  labored 
then  for  a  number  of  years  as  pastor  of  a  Reformed 
church  at  Duisburg,  and  soon  attracted  considerable 
attention  by  several  volumes  of  religious  poetry,  and 
beautiful  essays  on  various  theological  and  practical 
topics.  Some  of  the  finest  and  most  interesting  contri 
butions  to  former  volumes  of  Hengstenberg's  "Evan 
gelical  Church  Gazette,"  when  it  stood  on  a  more  liberal 
basis  than  it  does  now,  are  from  Lange's  pen. 

I  remember  well  the  delight  with  which  I  read,  when 
a  student  at  Tubingen,  a  series  of  articles  on  the  "Land 
of  Glory,"  which  he  furnished  for  that  periodical  in 
1837,  with  the  object  to  show  that  there  is  somewhere 
in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  a  supernatural,  yet  lite 
ral,  i.  e.,  local  heaven,  to  which  the  Saviour  ascended, 
33 


386  LANGE. 

— a  Mount  Zion,  an  abode  of  the  blessed,  a  celestial 
city,  the  free  Jerusalem,  the  true  and  eternal  metropolis 
of  Christendom  ;  where  the  Triune  God  reveals  his  high 
est  majesty,  power,  and  love ;  where  the  saints  dwell 
with  Christ  in  transcendent  glory  and  peace  ;  and  where 
truth,  beauty,  and  holiness  are  blended  in  perfect  har 
mony  forever.  The  speculations  about  the  locality  of 
heaven  are,  of  course,  very  controvertible ;  but  the  vein 
of  sacred  poetry,  the  sublime  flight  of  sanctified  imagi 
nation,  the  religious  fervor  and  devotion,  the  aspiration 
after  the  true  home  of  the  spirit  and  the  eternal  hills  of 
salvation,  impart  to  those  articles  a  peculiar  charm. 
They  partake  somewhat  of  the  character  of  the  de 
servedly  popular  works  of  Rev.  H.  Harbaugh,  on  the 
heavenly  world. 

In  1839,  the  famous  Dr.  Strauss — who  resolves  the 
Gospel  history  of  salvation  into  an  incoherent  and  self- 
contradictory  mythological  poem,  and  denies  even  the 
existence  of  a  personal  God  and  the  immortality  of  the 
soul — Was  duly  elected  professor  of  Christian  dogmatics 
and  ethics  in  the  University  of  Zurich,  by  the  radical 
party  which  was  then  in  power,  and  consisted  mostly  of 
unprincipled  demagogues  and  frivolous  infidels.  The 
Germans  in  their  proverbial  patience  and  political  pas 
sivity,  would,  of  course,  have  submitted  to  this  as  to 
any  other  measure  of  their  paternal  governments.  Many 
a  man  has  been  elected  to  the  highest  seat  of  ecclesias 
tical  power  in  the  German  States,  who  is  almost  as 
heterodox  as  Strauss,  or  even  belongs  to  his  pantheistic 
school ;  and  yet  the  people  quietly  put  up  with  it,  and 
smoked  their  pipes  as  good-naturedly  as  ever.  But  the 


LANGE.  387 

free  Swiss  would  not  acquiesce  in  such  an  act  of  suicidal 
folly,  which  placed  in  the  chair  of  Zwingli  a  man  who 
had  insulted  their  Christianity,  and  could  only  utterly 
disqualify  the  candidates  of  the  ministry  to  be  committed 
to  his  instruction,  for  the  holy  office  by  making  them 
either  open  destroyers  of  the  Church,  or  consummate 
hypocrites.  The  uncommon  sense  of  the  Germans  may 
not  exactly  see  this  glaring  inconsistency ;  but  to  the 
common  sense  of  Englishmen  and  Americans  it  is  as  plain 
as  day-light.  Accordingly,  the  people  of  the  Canton  of 
Zurich  rose  in  their  republican  majesty,  like  the  recent 
Vigilance  Committee  of  California ;  marched  to  the  city 
under  the  lead  of  an  energetic  country  pastor ;  and  with 
what  weapons  they  could  hastily  collect,  scared  the  radical 
clique  away,  who  very  courageously  took  to  their  heels ; 
then  they  placed  the  government  into  the  hands  of  con 
servative,  trustworthy  Christian  men,  and  quietly  retired 
to  their  mountain  homes  without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood. 
The  revolution  was  the  work  of  a  few  hours.  But  as 
Strauss  had  been  legally  elected,  and  accepted  the  ap 
pointment,  he,  being  a  high-minded  and  independent 
philosopher — claimed  at  least  the  half  of  the  salary  and 
enjoys  it,  I  believe,  to  this  day. 

The  new  government  elected  Mr.  Lange  in  the  place 
claimed,  but  never  occupied  by  Strauss.  They  could  not 
have  made  a  better  and  more  significant  choice  at  that 
time.  For  Lange  had  already  written  one  of  the  ablest 
replies  to  the  "  Leben  Jesu"  of  the  former,  in  defence 
especially  of  the  infant  history  of  the  Saviour ;  and  a  few 
years  afterwards,  he  met  the  arguments  of  the  Tiibingen 
critic  more  at  length  and  triumphantly  in  his  own  work 


388  LANGE. 

on  the  Life  of  Jesus.  And  yet  with  all  his  uncompro 
mising  hostility  to  this  modern  infidelity,  he  is  person 
ally  a  modest,  amiable,  and  lovely  Christian  gentleman, 
who  could  satisfy  the  wishes  of  the  party  that  called 
him,  without  giving  just  cause  of  offence  to  the  oppo 
sition. 

For  nearly  fourteen  years,  he  labored  faithfully  and 
conscientiously  on  the  classical  soil  of  the  Swiss  Refor 
mation,  and  took  part  in  every  enterprise  which  was 
calculated  to  revive  evangelical  life  and  activity.  His 
usefulness  was  unfortunately  neutralized  to  some  extent 
by  the  counteracting  influence  of  his  own  colleagues— 
Schweizer  and  Hitzig— who  are  men  of  an  altogether 
different  spirit.  Yet  his  labors  were  not  without  a  last 
ing  blessing,  and  will  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance 
by  a  devoted  circle  of  his  friends  among  the  clergy  and 
the  people  of  Zurich,  who  manifested  their  affection  for 
him  in  a  very  touching  manner,  when,  in  1854,  he  left 
the  charming  city  of  Zwingli  in  obedience  to  a  call  from 
his  alma  mater,  the  University  of  Bonn. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 


E  B  R  ARD. 

Sketch  of  his  Life— His  Literary  Fertility— Excellences  and  Defects  of  his 
Writings — His  Defence  of  the  Gospel-history  against  the  destructive 
Criticism  of  the  Tubingen  School — His  Dogmatic  Works  and  Relation 
to  the  German  Reformed  Church — His  Views  on  Predestination  and  the 
Eucharist — His  Lectures  on  Practical  Theology. 

DR.  JOHANNES  HEINRICH  AUGUST  EBRARD  is  a  Bava 
rian  by  birth  and  education,  but  a  Huguenot  by  descent, 
and  combines  with  German  depth  and  learning  the  bold 
ness  and  energy  of  those  French  Calvinists  who,  under 
the  persecution  of  Louis  XIV.,  sacrificed  home  and 
country  for  their  faith.  He  studied  at  Erlangen,  and 
commenced  there  his  academic  career  as  Privatdocent. 
His  favorite  teachers  who  exerted  most  influence  over 
his  mind,  were  Olshausen,  the  distinguished  commen 
tator,  whose  work  he  has  now  completed,  and  Krafft,  the 
former  incumbent  of  the  only  Reformed  professorship  in 
that  University,  which  was  established  for  the  benefit  of 
the  few  Reformed  congregations  in  the  predominantly 
Catholic  and  Lutheran  Kingdom  of  Bavaria,  especially 
for  the  Rhenish  province.  Dr.  Krafft,  though  little 
known  as  a  scholar  and  writer,  stood  for  a  long  time 
alone  among  his  colleagues  in  the  defence  of  pure  Scrip 
tural  truth  from  the  chair  and  the  pulpit,  and  was  the 

33* 


390  EBRARD. 

chief  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God  to  revive  evangelical 
theology  and  piety  in  that  part  of  Germany.  This  is 
admitted  even  by  high-toned  Lutherans,  and  I  remem 
ber  to  have  heard  Dr.  Harless,  now  of  Munich,  and  Pro 
fessor  Stahl,  of  Berlin,  who  taught  formerly  in  Erlangen, 
express  themselves  much  indebted  to  the  spiritual  in 
fluence  and  edifying  sermons  of  this  venerable  servant 
of  Christ. 

After  the  decease  of  Dr.  Krafft,  Ebrard  was  elected 
in  his  place,  and  returned  again  to  his  alma  mater,  after 
he  had  labored  for  several  years  (from  1844  to  '49)  as 
theological  professor  in  Zurich  with  considerable  suc 
cess.  In  the  midst  of  a  strictly  Lutheran  faculty,  he 
boldly  defended  Reformed  doctrines  and  usages.  For, 
with  the  exception  of  this  one  Reformed  professorship, 
Erlangen  is  now  the  most  flourishing  school  of  orthodox 
Lutheranism  in  all  Germany,  and  its  theological  faculty, 
consisting  of  Thomasius,  Delitzsch,  Hofmann,  Harnack, 
(Hofling  died  a  few  years  ago,)  enjoys  great  confidence 
for  its  faithful  adherence  to  the  Augsburg  Confession 
and  the  Form  of  Concord. 

In  1853,  Ebrard  was  removed  by  his  government,  I 
know  not  for  what  reason,  as  Consistorialratli  to  Speyer, 
the  capital  of  Rhenish  Bavaria,  once  the  residence  of 
several  German  emperors,  and  the  birth-place  of  the  re 
ligious  designation  of  Protestants.  Here  he  is  engaged 
mainly  in  the  practical  duties  of  church  government  and 
discipline.  He  is  determined,  too  much  perhaps,  to  keep 
up  the  Union  of  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed  which  was 
introduced  there  in  1818,  after  the  model  of  Prussia,  and 
to  put  down  all  attempts  at  a  revival  of  separate  and  ex- 


EBRARD.  391 

elusive  confessionalism.  This  seems  to  be  inconsistent 
with  his  love  and  zeal  for  the  Reformed^  Church  of  his 
fathers,  but  it  only  seems  so;  for  he  never  opposed  the 
Union  where  it  once  existed,  and  maintains  that  the  Re 
formed  Confession  has  always  been  catholic  and  con 
ciliatory  in  spirit,  and  favorable  to  a  union  with  the 
Lutherans  of  the  Melanthonian  school. 

We  regret  that  he  is  thus  withdrawn  from  the  academic 
field  of  labor  for  which  he  seems  better  adapted  than  for 
the  post  he  now  occupies.  Still  such  an  active  and  am 
bitious  mind,  and  such  a  hard  student  as  he  is,  will  never 
permit  practical  duties  to  occupy  his  time  to  the  exclu 
sion  of  theological  researclTand  literary  labor.  ^He  took 
an  active  part  also  from  the  beginning  in  the  German 
Church  Diet,  and  attended  the^  meeting  of  the^  Evan 
gelical  Alliance  in  London,  1851.  He  is  a  good  French, 
and  tolerably  good  English  scholar,  and  has  his  eye  upon 
the  progress  of  the  Reformed  Church  out  of  Germany  as 
well  as  in  Germany. 

Dr.  Ebrard  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  talented, 
learned,  energetic  and  zealous  among  the  divines  of  the 
present  generation.  His  literary  fertility  seems  to  be 
inexhaustible.  Although  hardly  more  than  forty  years 
of  age,  he  has  written  already  alarge'  number  of  works 
on  the  most  important  and  difficult  topics  of  exegetical, 
historical,  and  systematic  divinity.  Among  these  de 
serve  especial  mention  a  critical  history  of  the  life  of 
Christ,  ( Wissenschaftliche  Kritik  der  evangelischen  G-e- 
schichte,  first  edition  1841-'42,  in  3  vols. ;  2d  ed.,  1850, 
in  1  vol.  of  956  pages ;)  a  system  of  didactic  theology, 
(Christliche  Dogmatik,  1851-'52,  in|2  vols. ;)  a  history 


392  EBRARD. 

of  the  doctrine  on  the  Lord's  Supper  from  the  apostles 
down  to  the  present  time,  (1845,  2  vols. ;)  a  collection 
of  Reformed  liturgies,  (Reformirtes  Kirclienlucli,  1847;) 
lectures  on  practical  theology,  (1854;)  and  commen 
taries  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  (1850 ;)  and  on 
the  Revelation,  (1852,)  which  form  a  part  of  the  exege- 
tical  work  of  Olshausen.  In  addition  to  this,  he  con 
tributes  freely  to  the  Studien  und  Kritiken,  and  to  Her- 
zog's  Encyclopedia,  and  writes  occasionally  pamphlets 
on  the  theological  and  religious  controversies  of  the  day. 
He  also  founded  and  edited,  while  at  Ziirich,  a  spirited 
but  short-lived  periodical  entitled,  "The  Church  of  the 
Future,"  helped  to  establish  afterwards  the  Reformed 
Church  Gazette  of  Erlangen,  and  edits  now  again  a 
weekly  ecclesiastical  paper  for  Rhenish  Bavaria. 

Such  excessive  activity  of  the  pen  seems  necessarily 
to  imply  superficiality.  And  yet  such  a  charge  would 
be  unjust  in  the  case  before  us.  It  is  true,  none  of 
Ebrard's  works  are  free  from  serious  objections  and  de 
fects.  He  is  too  quick  and  hasty  in  forming  his  judg 
ment.  His  tone  is  too  confident,  dogmatic,  and  at  times 
almost  arrogant,  or,  in  the  expressive  language  of  Ger 
man  students,  burschikos.  He  is  constitutionally  pug 
nacious,  and  defies  the  world,  the  devil,  and  all  his 
hosts.  He  treats  his  opponents  as  if  they  were  mere 
school-boys,  and  often  indulges  in  his  ironical  and  sar 
castic  propensity  at  the  expense  of  theological  dignity 
and  decorum.  His  style  lacks  careful  polish,  symmetry 
and  condensation,  and  is  disfigured  by  too  many  foreign 
expressions  and  emphatic  words,  or,  as  we  would  say, 
italics. 


EBRARD.  393 

But  with  all  these  defects,  which  are  most  obvious  in 
his  earlier  writings,  he  generally  masters  his  subject, 
shrinks  from  no  difficulty,  however  perplexing,  penetrates 
into  the  heart  of  things,  is  rich  and  happy  in  illustration, 
often  profound,  always  independent,  fresh,  vigorous  and 
interesting.  Nor  must  his  fondness  for  jokes  and  wit 
ticisms  be  mistaken  for  levity.  He  is  no  doubt  at  heart 
an  earnest  man,  lives  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  devotes  his 
fine  talents  to  the  cause  of  Christianity. 

His  large  work  on  the  evangelical  history,  is  a  valua 
ble  contribution  to  the  apologetic  literature  of  the  pre 
sent  century,  and  may  be  regarded,  upon  the  whole,  as 
one  of  the  most  complete  and  triumphant  refutations  of 
the  more  recent  attacks  of  German  infidelity  and  semi- 
infidelity  on  the  credibility  of  the  canonical  Gospels. 
He  goes  to  the  enormous  trouble  of  exploring  the  laby 
rinth  of  modern  criticism  to  its  remotest  corners,  and 
exposes,  without  fear  and  favor,  both  by  argument  and 
ridicule,  the  weakness,  the  inconsistencies  and  contra 
dictions  of  the  endless  hypotheses  of  Strauss,  Baur, 
Bruno  Bauer,  Gfrorer,  Weisse,  Schweizer,  and  others, 
who  either  undermine  the  historical  foundation  of  Chris 
tianity,  and  place  it  on  a  level  with  the  ancient  mytho 
logies,  or  create  at  least  an  irreconcilable  chasm  between 
the  synoptic  and  the  Johannean  narratives  of  Christ,  and 
sacrifice  the  one  or  the  other. 

In  his  doctrinal  and  liturgical  writings,  Ebrard  is,  as 
already  intimated,  one  of  the  leading  champions  of  the 
Reformed  theology  in  Germany  as  distinct  from  the 
Lutheran,  although  altogether  friendly  to  the  Union. 
For  it  is  not  the  rigid  Calvinism  of  the  Synods  of  Dort, 


394  EBRARD. 

and  "Westminster,  which  he  defends,  but  the  German  or 
Melanthonian  type  of  the  Reformed  communion  as  em 
bodied  in  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 

The  principal  difference  between  the  two  systems  may 
be  reduced  to  two  points.  First,  the  former  makes  an 
abstract  eternal  decree  the  source,  and  the  incarnation 
and  the  church  simply  a  means,  of  salvation ;  while 
the  latter  derives  it  from  the  person  of  Christ,  who  in 
his  divine  nature  is  older  than  all  decrees.  Secondly, 
Calvinism  teaches  a  double  eternal  decree,  a  reproba 
tion  as  well  as  an  election,  and  thus  necessarily  limits 
the  atonement  to  a  part  of  the  race ;  while  the  German 
Reformed  Church  passes  the  decree  of  reprobation  over 
in  silence,  and  extends  the  intrinsic  power  and  divine 
intention  and  offer,  though  by  no  means  the  real  accept 
ance,  of  salvation  to  the  whole  world  in  the  sense  of  the 
passage:  "He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins;  and  not 
for  our's  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world," 
(1  John  i.  2) ;  and  "  God  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved, 
and  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  (1  Tim.  ii.  4.) 

In  this  respect  all  the  evangelical  Reformed  divines 
of  the  age  (Schweizer  excepted,  who  is  not  evangelical 
in  the  American  sense  of  the  term,)  are  fully  agreed. 
Lange,  Heppe,  Hundeshagen,  Schenkel,  Hagenbach, 
Herzog,  Sudhoff,  F.  W.  Krummacher  as  well  as  Ebrard, 
reject  the  supralapsarian,  and  in  some  sense  also  the 
infralapsarian  scheme  of  predestination,  without  being 
on  that  account  Arminian  in  any  sense  whatever.  They 
all  seek  the  solution  of  the  difficult  problem  of  the  rela 
tion  of  the  infinite  grace  of  God  to  the  finite  will  of  man 
in  the  work  of  conversion  and  sanctification,  not  in  the 


EBRARD.  395 

denial  of  one  of  the  two  factors ;  but  either  in  modification 
of  the  Melanthonian  synergism,  or  in  some  other  medium 
between  Calvinism  and  semi-Pelagianism.  In  opposition 
to  this  view,  Dr.  Alexander  Schweizer,  of  Zurich,  an 
able  follower  of  Schleiermacher,  in  two  learned  but  one 
sided  works  on  the  doctrinal  history  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  tries  to  show  that  the  Reformed  system  rests 
on  the  metaphysical  dogma  of  the  absolute  sovereignty 
of  God  and  unconditional  predestination,  and  must  end 
at  last,  by  logical  consequence,  in  a  sort  of  modern 
speculative  fatalism  and  pantheism.  But  Ebrard  treats 
his  former  and  older  colleague,  in  occasional  foot-notes, 
with  the  utmost  contempt  for  smuggling  his  crypto-pan- 
theism  into  the  old  Reformed  divines,  and  calls  his  book 
absolutely  useless.  From  this  judgment,  however,  we 
must  dissent,  much  as  we  dislike  the  egotistic  spirit 
and  cold  dialectics  of  Schweizer. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  the  eucharist,  Ebrard  adopts, 
with  some  modifications,  the  Calvinistic  theory  of  a 
spiritual  real  presence  and  actual  fruition  of  Christ's 
life  through  faith,  in  opposition  both  to  the  Lutheran 
dogma  of  an  oral  manducation  of  Christ  by  the  unwor 
thy  as  well  as  the  worthy  communicant,  and  to  the  purely 
symbolical  view  of  Zwingli,  although  he  successfully 
defends  the  reformer  of  Ziirich  against  the  charge  of 
rationalism  and  unchurchly  radicalism.  His  view  on 
this  topic  agrees  substantially  with  that  of  Dr.  Nevin 
as  'expounded  in  his  "Mystical  Presence,"  of  which 
Ebrard  gave  a  very  favorable  and  interesting  review  in 
the  Studien  und  Kritiken  for  1850. 

Finally.  Dr.  Ebrard  comes  before  us  as  a  writer  on 


396  EBRARD. 

Practical  Theology.  His  lectures  on  this  branch  of  the 
sacred  science  were  published  in  1854,  and  are  quite  a 
valuable  addition  to  homiletical,  liturgical  and  pastoral 
literature.  The  author  tells  us  in  the  preface  that  he 
treated  the  subject  with  a  considerable  degree  of  origi 
nality,  (ziemlich  originell.)  He  views  practical  theology 
not  as  one  branch  simply  of  divinity,  co-ordinate  with 
the  other  three  branches  of  exegetical,  historical,  and 
systematic  or  speculative  theology,  according  to  the 
usual  division,  but  as  the  entire  theology  under  the 
aspect  of  art,  as  distinct  from  science.  Theology,  he 
tells  us,  may  be  regarded  and  treated  first,  as  science, 
whose  object  is  the  theoretical  knowledge  of  the  saving 
truth  of  God  revealed  in  Christ ;  secondly,  as  art,  which 
looks  to  ecclesiastical  action  and  the  practical  life  of 
religion  on  the  basis  of  scientific  knowledge.  This  latter 
is  animated  by  the  ethical  principle,  i.  e.,  the  new  life  of 
Christ  in  the  soul  which  continually  tends  to  realize  itself 
in  the  congregation,  and  to  transform  the  world  into  the 
kingdom  of  God.  It  forms  the  crown  and  fruit-bearing 
flower,  which  derives  juice  and  nourishment  from  the 
root,  stem  and  branches  of  scientific  theology. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  author  -presents  a  spirited 
and  suggestive  outline  of  catechetics,  the  theory  of 
foreign  and  domestic  missions,  which  he  calls  halieutics, 
the  theory  of  worship,  including  liturgies  and  homiletics, 
and  the  theory  of  pastoral  care  or  poimenics.  He  shows 
throughout  an  experimental  acquaintance  with  the  prac 
tical  duties  of  the  ministry  and  the  wants  of  the  Church 
at  the  present  time.  The  fourth  chapter  of  the  first 
part,  where  he  deals  with  the  general  diseases  of  eccle- 


EBRARD.  397 

siastical  life,  as  pietism  and  confessionalism,  separatism 
and  episcopalism,  methodism  and  hierarchism,  puritan- 
ism  and  ceremonialism,  sectism,  Romanism  and  infidelity, 
is  especially  instructive  and  interesting,  although  many 
of  his  views  would  require  considerable  modification  to 
be  fully  applicable  to  our  American  Church  life. 


34 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 


HUNDESHAGEN,  SCHENKEL,  HAGENBACH,  HERZOG. 

Modern  German  Reformed  Theology — Schleiermacher — Hundeshagen — 
His  Review  of  German  Protestantism,  a  mirror  of  the  Crisis  before  the 
Revolution  of  1848— Schenkel— Hagenbach— Herzog—  The  Theological 
Encyclopgedia. 

IN  connection  with  Lange  and  Ebrard  we  must  notice 
several  other  academic  divines  of  equal  distinction,  who 
are  likewise  Reformed  by  descent,  personal  association 
and  ecclesiastical  sympathy,  but  belong,  theologically, 
to  the  evangelical  union-school,  and  more  particularly  to 
that  branch  of  it  which  we  have,  in  a  previous  chapter, 
designated  as  the  "Centre,"  in  distinction  from  the  high 
church  confessional  Unionism  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
low  church  latitudinarian  Unionism  on  the  other.  This 
Union  tendency  of  the  modern  Reformed  theology  of 
Germany  and  its  liberal  catholic  bearing  towards  Lu- 
theranism  is  no  arbitrary  innovation,  but  hereditary, 
and  may  be  traced  back  to  the  genius  of  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  and  the  Melanthonian  Calvinistic  origin  of 
the  Church  of  the  Palatinate.  In  its  modern  scientific 
form  it  dates  from  the  introduction  of  the  Union  in 
Prussia  and  other  German  States,  whose  rulers  were 
originally  Reformed  or  leaning  in  that  direction  by 


HUNDESHAGEN,  SCHENKEL,  HAGENBACH,  HERZOG.  399 

family  ties  or  religious  sympathies,  and  from  the  power 
ful  influence  of  Schleiermacher.  For  he  was  the  son 
of  a  Reformed  clergyman,  and  himself  a  Reformed  min 
ister,  and  with  all  his  originality  and  independence,  he 
had  a  constitutional  sympathy  with  the  Calvinistic  prin 
ciple  of  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  God,  and  the  abso 
lute  dependence  of  the  creature,  with  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  church  government,  and  with  the  political  liber 
alism  of  Reformed  countries  like  Holland  and  England  ; 
yet  he  fell  heartily  in  with  the  Union  of  1817,  and  ad 
hered  to  it,  though  he  strongly  disapproved  the  govern 
ment  measures  for  its  introduction.  But  his  school,  if 
we  may  speak  of  one — for  he  denied  all  intention  to 
form  a  school — divided  into  two  very  different  branches, 
the  positive  evangelical,  and  the  anti-confessional  or 
latitudinarian  Unionists.  The  above  named  Reformed 
divines,  of  whom  we  are  going  to  speak  in  this  chapter, 
belong  to  the  former,  Schweizer  of  Zurich,  to  the  latter 
branch. 

Dr.  CARL  BERNHARD  HUNDESHAGEN,  a  Hessian  by 
birth,  formerly  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  in  Berne, 
Switzerland,  and  now  member  of  the  theological  faculty 
of  Heidelberg,  the  old  centre  of  the  Palatinate  church, 
is  little  known  beyond  Germany,  but  must  be  ranked 
among  the  most  interesting  of  the  living  divines  of  that 
country,  and  has  few  equals  for  general  intelligence, 
freshness  and  vigor  of  mind.  His  position  is  somewhat 
peculiar.  His  natural  talents  would  have  qualified  him 
as  well  for  the  duties  of  a  statesman,  as  for  a  theological 
chair,  and  he  would  even  now  make  an  excellent  minister 
of  public  worship  and  instruction.  He  is  no  pedantic 


400  HUNDESHAGEN,  SCHENKEL, 

schoolman  and  bookworm,  none  of  those  monkish  meta 
physicians  who  roam  over  the  barren  deserts  of  abstruse 
speculation  without  ever  seeing  the  green  pastures  be 
yond,  as  is  the  case  with  so  many  German  scholars ;  but 
he  takes  a  lively  and  intelligent  interest  in  the  practi 
cal  questions  of  the  day,  and  sympathizes  with  the  con 
dition,  wants  and  sufferings  of  the  people.  He  views 
theology,  not  as  an  abstract  and  isolated  science,  but  in 
its  connections  with,  and  bearings  upon,  the  various 
ramifications  of  society  and  national  life.  He  keeps  a 
watchful  eye  upon  general  literature,  politics,  the  work 
ing  of  governments,  the  social  problems,  the  leading 
organs  of  public  opinion,  and  studies  the  movements  of 
secular  history  in  their  relation  to,  and  probable  effect, 
upon  the  kingdom  of  God  which  they  must  ultimately, 
directly  or  indirectly,  help  to  promote  and  to  carry  for 
ward  to  its  glorious  triumphs.  He  feels  the  importance 
of  employing  other  means,  besides  the  pulpit,  to  revive 
a  living  Christianity  among  the  educated  classes  of  his 
fatherland  ;  and  hence  he  delivered  an  excellent  series  of 
"Testimonies  for  Christ,"  in  the  free  lecture  style,  to 
mixed  audiences  of  Frankfort  and  other  cities.  In  poli 
tics,  of  which  he  knows  more  than  most  of  the  German 
divines,  he  is  an  admirer  of  constitutional  freedom,  and 
of  Anglo-Saxon  institutions,  although  he  never  was  in 
England,  nor  speaks  a  wrord  of  English.  His  long  resi 
dence  in  Switzerland  was  of  benefit  to  him  in  this 
respect.  He  is  a  fine  looking  gentleman,  of  kindly, 
social  disposition  and  agreeable  conversational  powers, 
altogether,  I  should  judge  from  a  few  short  interviews, 
a  most  genial  and  interesting  companion. 


401 

Hundeshagen,  when  yet  residing  in  Switzerland  and 
observing  from  its  free  mountains  the  commotions  of  his 
native  land,  made  quite  a  sensation,  in  1846,  by  an 
anonymous  book  on  "  German  Protestantism,  its  past 
history,  and  present  life-questions,  viewed  in  its  connec 
tion  with  the  entire  national  development,  by  a  German 
divine,"  (3d  ed.  1850.)  This  remarkable  work  is  a 
manly  and  bold,  yet  well  meant  and  patriotic  exposure 
of  the  religious,  political  and  social  diseases  of  modern 
Germany,  and  represents,  almost  prophetically,  the  pe 
culiar  crisis  which  preceded  the  outbreak  of  the  political 
earthquake  of  1848.  The  author  develops  first  the  na 
ture  and  object  of  Protestantism  in  its  original  form ; 
then  he  traces  the  rise  and  power  of  recent  Anti-Christi 
anity  in  Germany,  its  causes  and  effects,  following  it  out 
even  to  the  moral  destitution  of  German  emigrants  in 
foreign  countries ;  and  finally  he  discusses  the  move 
ments  and  questions  which  agitated  that  country  in  the 
last  ten  years  before  the  revolution.  He  accounts  for 
the  development  of  modern  infidelity  in  the  bosom  of 
German  Protestantism,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by  the 
political  reaction  since  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  which 
crippled  the  free  motion  of  national  life,  violently  sup 
pressed  all  political  discontent,  and  indirectly  forced  the 
bitter  hostility  to  the  existing  order  of  things,  to  vent  itself 
intellectually  upon  the  Church  and  Christianity.  He 
thinks  that  a  healthy  religious  life  of  a  nation  can  only 
unfold  itself  on  the  soil  of  rational  political  freedom,  as 
the  example  of  England  and  the  United  States  prove 
better  than  all  arguments.  Hence  his  motto :  "  It  is 
not  good  if  a  people  which  unites  all  the  necessary  con- 

34* 


402 

ditions  for  a  comprehensive  development,  is  confined  to 
an  exclusively  literary  existence."  In  reading  the  terse 
and  vigorous  pages  of  Hundeshagen's  Protestantism,  we 
see  the  heavy  clouds  gathering  over  Germany,  we  hear 
the  rolling  of  the  approaching  thunderstorm,  we  feel,  to 
use  a  German  expression,  the  vormarzliche  G-eivitter- 
schwiile.  The  author  was  right  to  leave  the  book  essen 
tially  unchanged  in  the  subsequent  editions.  For  it- 
deserves  to  retain  its  original  character  and  to  be  hand 
ed  down  to  history  as  a  faithful  intellectual  mirror  of 
the  critical  condition  of  German  Protestantism  before 
1848. 

That  crisis  is  now  past,  but  a  new  one  has  taken  its 
place,  and  the  clouds  seem  to  be  again  gathering  over 
the  political  and  ecclesiastical  horizon  of  Germany. 
Another  book  of  the  kind  is  needed,  or  what  would  be 
still  better,  an  actual  remedy,  that  should  prevent  a 
similar  outbreak,  and  lead  a  great  nation  into  the  path 
of  a  free,  healthy,  vigorous  and  comprehensive  develop 
ment  of  all  its  mighty  intellectual  and  moral  powers. 

Dr.  DANIEL  SCHENKEL,  a  native  of  Schaffhausen, 
Switzerland,  and  for  some  time  preacher  of  that  city, 
succeeded,  in  1850,  Dr.  De  Wette,  his  teacher  and  friend, 
as  professor  of  theology  in  Basel,  but  a  few  years  after 
wards  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  University  of  Heidel 
berg,  where  he  still  resides.  He  gradually  progressed 
from  the  critical  skepticism  of  De  Wette,  to  a  more  posi 
tive  and  orthodox  position.  He  is  a  learned,  prolific 
and  fluent  writer  on  subjects  connected  with  the  history, 
principle  and  mission  of  Protestantism,  and  the  Union  of 
Lutheranism  and  Reform,  and  a  ready  and  fearless  op- 


HAGENBACH,    HERZOG.  403 

ponent  of  Romanism,  and  exclusive  Lutheranism,  which 
he  regards  as  the  German  form  of  Puseyism.  He  is 
one  of  the  editors  of  the  Greneral  Church  Gazette  of 
Darmstadt,  formerly  the  organ  of  the  rationalism  of  a 
Bretschneider,  and  has  imparted  into  its  pages  not  only 
more  life  and  vigor,  but  also  an  evangelical  tone.  He 
is  a  very  eloquent  preacher,  and  I  found  that  his  print 
ed  sermons  were  among  the  most  popular  German  works 
in  Holland.  He  takes  a  leading  part  in  the  Gustavus 
Adolphus  Society. 

Dr.  K.  R.  HAGENBACH,  professor  of  church  history  at 
Basel,  his  native  city,  where  he  is  connected  with  one  of 
the  most  respectable  families,  wrote,  in  addition  to  the 
manual  of  doctrine-history,  known  to  the  readers  of 
Clark's  Foreign  Library,  a  useful  theological  Encyclo 
paedia,  and  a  number  of  volumes  on  the  history  of  Pro 
testantism,  and  the  early  church  of  the  ante  and  post- 
Nicene  age.  Most  of  these  books  were  originally 
delivered  as  lectures  to  a  mixed  audience,  and  hence 
are  clothed  in  a  popular  dress,  although  by  no  means 
superficial  on  that  account.  His  style  is  remarkably 
clear,  simple,  easy  and  fluent ;  his  tone  and  judgment  is 
liberal,  mild,  amiable  and  well  calculated  to  attract  out 
siders,  and  such  as  are  prejudiced  against  more  decided 
forms  of  orthodoxy.  His  stand-point  as  a  historian 
resembles  that  of  Hase,  but  it  is  more  evangelical.  He 
is  also  quite  a  respectable  poet  and  a  gentleman  of  fine 
taste  and  general  culture.  He  edits  a  journal  for  the 
Reformed  Churches  of  Switzerland  with  much  discre 
tion  and  circumspection. 

Dr.   I.  I.  HERZOG,  a  native  of  Basel,  was  first,  for 


404  HAGENBACH,    HERZOG. 

several  years,  professor  of  theology  in  the  Academy  of 
Lausanne  in  French  Switzerland,  and  was  involved, 
with  his  colleagues,  the  distinguished  Vinet,  and  Chap- 
pius,  in  the  struggles  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
the  Free  Church  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud.  It  was  there 
that  he  wrote  a  valuable  biography  of  Oecolampadius, 
the  celebrated  reformer  of  Basel,  in  two  volumes,  1843. 
After  a  short  residence  in  Halle,  he  was  elected  to  suc 
ceed  Dr.  Ebrard  as  professor  of  Reformed  theology  in 
Erlangen,  1854.  He  is  now  principally  known  in 
America  as  well  as  in  Germany,  as  the  editor  of  the 
Theological  Encyclopedia,  now  in  course  of  publication, 
to  which  we  have  alluded  already  in  a  previous  chapter. 
The  divines  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  are  among  the 
largest  and  ablest  contributors  to  this  valuable  and  last 
ing  work. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 


W  I  C  H  E  R  N  . 

Character  of  Wichcrn — Christian  Philanthropy — The  Rough  House — Per 
sonal  Interviews — The  Church  Diet  and  the  Inner  Mission — The  Evan 
gelical  Conference  and  the  Diaconate — Fliedner  and  the  Deaconesses — 
"\Vichern  in  Prussia — Concluding  Reflections  on  the  Prospects  of  Christi 
anity  in  Germany. 

WE  conclude  these  sketches  with  the  most  distin 
guished  representative  of  practical  Christianity  in  Ger 
many,  who  converts  the  ideas  of  modern  evangelical 
theology  into  deeds  of  charity,  and  goes  forth  from  his 
study  to  the  lanes  of  public  life,  the  dens  of  misery,  and 
the  hells  of  vice,  to  do  the  work  of  the  merciful  Sama 
ritan,  and,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  to  reclaim  society  to  the 
gospel  of  peace. 

We  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  Dr.  Wichern  one  of 
the  greatest  and  best  men  of  the  age.  He  stands  fore 
most  in  the  ranks  of  Christian  philanthropists  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  and,  since  the  death  of  Chalmers, 
we  know  of  no  English  or  American  divine  who  equals 
him  in  fervor  of  spirit,  and  incessant  activity  of  love  to 
God  and  to  fallen  man.  His  name  will  ever  be  identified 
with  the  noble  work  of  Inner  Mission  and  the  regene 
ration  of  German  Protestantism.  History  will  assign 
him  a  place  by  the  side  of  Vincent  de  Paul,  the  father 


406  WICHERN. 

of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  Augustus  Hermann  Francke, 
the  founder  of  the  Orphan  House  at  Halle,  William 
Wilberforce,  the  emancipator  of  slaves,  and  other  truly 
great  men,  who,  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ  and  gene 
rous  sympathy  for  their  suffering  brethren,  went  about 
doing  good,  and  became  practical  reformers  and  bene 
factors  of  the  race. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wichern  was  born  at  Hamburg,  in  1808, 
and  is,  therefore,  now  in  the  prime  of  life — although  his 
gray  hair  gives  him  already  a  venerable  appearance. 
He  studied  at  Berlin  under  Schleiermachcr  and  Neander, 
and  still  holds  these  teachers  in  grateful  remembrance. 
He  is  a  well  educated  divine,  of  strictly  evangelical,  and 
yet  truly  liberal  and  comprehensive  views,  an  earnest 
Christian,  a  dignified  and  accomplished,  yet  plain  and 
unostentatious  gentleman.  He  has  an  eminently  prac 
tical  genius,  great  power  of  organization,  untiring  energy, 
fiery  and  commanding  eloquence.  Even  before  he  had 
completed  his  studies  he  felt  a  strong  desire  to  devote 
himself  to  works  of  charity,  in  a  free,  untrammeled  way. 
He  has  since  amply  proved  to  the  world  that  this  is  his 
peculiar  mission. 

Destitute  of  worldly  means,  but  full  of  faith  in  God, 
like  Francke,  he  founded,  in  1833,  near  the  village  of 
Horn,  about  three  miles  from  Hamburg,  a  vagrant  school, 
under  the  characteristic  name  of  the  "  Rauhe  Haus." 
It  was,  at  first,  an  old  broken-down  farm-house ;  but  it 
has  grown  since  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  and  in 
teresting  benevolent  institutions  in  the  world.  An  Eng 
lish  traveller  calls  it  the  u  House  among  the  Flowers," 
which  is  true,  both  in  a  literal  and  spiritual  sense ;  and 


WTCHERN.  407 

an  American  tourist,  Brace,  in  his  "  Home  Life  in  Ger 
many,"  (p.  96,)  states  it  as  his  impression,  on  a  visit  in 
the  year  1850,  that  "  the  friend  of  man,  searching  anx 
iously  for  what  man  has  done  for  his  suffering  fellows, 
may  look  far  in  both  Continents,  before  he  finds  an  insti 
tution  so  benevolent,  so  practical,  and  so  truly  Christian 
as  the  Hamburg  Rough  House." 

This  noble  establishment  is  a  large  garden  full  of  trees, 
walks,  flowers,  vegetables,  and  adjoining  corn-fields,  with 
several  small,  but  comfortable,  wood-houses,  and  a  neat, 
quiet  chapel.  It  embraces  various  workshops  for  shoe- 
making,  tailoring,  spinning,  baking,  etc.,  a  commercial 
agency  (Agentur)  for  the  sale  of  the  articles  made  by 
the  boys ;  a  printing  and  publishing  department ;  a  litho 
graph  and  wood  engraving  shop,  and  a  book-bindery — 
all  in  very  energetic  and  successful  operation.  Many 
excellent  tracts  and  books  are  annually  issued  from  the 
Institution,  also  a  monthly  periodical,  under  the  title 
"  Fliegende  Blatter ,'  which  is,  at  the  same  time,  the 
organ  of  the  central  committee  of  the  German  Church 
Diet  for  Inner  Mission.  The  children  are  divided  into 
families,  each  about  twelve  in  number,  and  controlled  by 
an  overseer,  with  two  assistants.  These  overseers  are 
generally  theological  students  who  prepare  themselves 
here  for  pastoral  usefulness.  Many  of  them  have  already 
gone  out  to  superintend  similar  institutions  in  Germany, 
Switzerland,  and  Russia,  established  on  the  plan  of  the 
Rough  House.  The  general  management  is,  of  course, 
in  the  hands  of  TVichern,  who  is  universally  respected 
and  beloved,  as  a  spiritual  father. 

And  who  should  not  venerate  the  man  who,  from  the 


408  WICIIERN. 

most  disinterested  motives,  picks  up  the  orphan,  the 
homeless,  the  outcast,  from  the  filth  and  squalor,  the 
dark  cellars  and  vicious  corners  of  Hamburg  and 
other  cities,  to  rescue  them  from  temporal  and  eternal 
ruin,  to  transform  them  into  useful  men  and  pious  Chris 
tians  !  He  succeeded  in  some  most  desperate  cases, 
with  boys  of  whom  the  very  devil  seemed  to  have  taken 
full  possession.  In  this  work  he  has  gathered  a  rare 
amount  of  psychological  knowledge  and  spiritual  ex 
perience. 

How  strange  !  Dr.  Wichern  is  one  of  the  purest  men ; 
and  yet  he  has  a  rare  familiarity  with  the  history  and 
statistics  of  vice.  He  knows  all  about  the  horrible  mys 
teries  of  society  in  such  cities  as  Hamburg — one  of  the 
most  corrupt  in  Germany — Berlin,  Paris,  and  London. 
He  spent  once  several  weeks  in  visiting,  with  the  assist 
ance  of  the  police-officers,  the  ill-famed  quarters  of  Eng 
land's  capital,  in  close  neighborhood  to  the  magnificent 
palaces  of  Regent-Street  and  Westminster,  and  he  told 
me,  he  nowhere  witnessed  such  appalling  scenes  of  misery 
and  wretchedness.  What  prompted  him  to  acquire  such 
knowledge,  was  no  idle  curiosity,  nor  a  morbid  taste, 
but  the  love  of  Christ,  who  came  to  save  sinners,  and  to 
seek  that  which  was  lost.  He  turns  his  large  experience 
to  the  best  account  in  his  Rough  House,  which,  for  many 
wicked  boys  and  girls,  has  become  the  birth-place  of  a 
new  life,  devoted  to  the  service  of  God  and  the  benefit 
of  man. 

I  shall  not  easily  forget  the  beautiful  days  I  spent 
with  this  servant  of  Christ  at  Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 
under  the  hospitable  roof  of  Dr.  Varrentrapp,  during 


WICHERN.        fl  TJ  U '  409 

the  sessions  of  the  seventh  Evangelical  Church  Diet  in 
September,  1854  ;  the  subsequent  excursion-  we  iook  to 
the  Taunus  mountains ;  the  trip  on  the  lovely  Rhine ; 
the  visit  to  Dr.  von  Bethmann  Hollweg,  the  noble 
patron  of  every  Christian  work,  on  his  mediaeval  castle, 
Rheineck  ;  and  the  last  hours  at  Bonn,  where  we  parted 
at  the  house  of  his  friend,  professor  Perthes,  never  to 
meet  again,  perhaps,  on  this  earth.  But  I  look  back 
with  equal  interest,  to  my  first  interview  with  him  at 
the  Rough  House,  in  1841,  when  he  was  yet  little 
known,  and  that  under  the  modest  title,  "  Candidate" 
for  the  holy  ministry.  I  had  then  just  graduated  at 
Berlin  as  "Licentiate,"  and  published  a  juvenile  book 
on  the  "  Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,"  in  which  he  felt 
deeply  interested  on  account  of  the  subject.  But  I  soon 
found  out  that  he  knew  much  more  about  it  than  I.  We 
made  an  excursion  to  the  worthy  pastor  Gurlitt  in  a 
neighboring  village,  who  had  written  an  essay  on  the 
same  topic.  We  conversed  on  the  mysteries  of  sin  and 
grace.  He  opened  to  me  an  awful  abyss  of  human  cor 
ruption,  and  gave  me  a  horrifying  account  of  two  youths 
under  his  charge,  who,  although  not  over  fifteen  and 
eighteen  years  of  age,  had  reached,  apparently,  the  ex 
treme  of  wicked  rebellion  against  God,  and  come  nearer 
the  blasphemy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  than  any  thing  I  ever 
heard  before,  even  Spiera's  case  hardly  excepted,  whose 
tale  does  "  harrow  up  the  soul  and  freeze  the  blood." 
Ever  since,  I  followed  his  history  with  lively  interest, 
and  was  greatly  rejoiced  to  hear,  a  few  years  afterwards, 
and  in  a  far  distant  land,  that  "  Candidat"  Wichern  was 
crowned  with  the  highest  academic  honor,  not  for  any 
35 


410  WICHERN. 

learned  work,  but  for  his  labors  of  love,  and  that  he 
became  the  acknowledged  leader  of  a  powerful  move 
ment  which  extends  almost  as  far  as  the  German  name. 

The  year  1848,  the  year  of  bright  hopes  and  gloomy 
disappointments ;  of  noble  deeds  and  dark  crimes ;  the 
year  which  laid  open  the  hidden  diseases  of  European 
society,  in  Church  and  State,  brought  Wichern  on  the 
public  stage,  and  gave  to  his  ideas  and  plans  of  reform 
a  national  importance.  He  has  a  heart  for  German 
unity  and  liberty,  and  laments  the  political  and  religious 
dissensions  of  his  fatherland.  He  deeply  sympathizes 
with  the  suiferings  and  destitutions  of  the  people,  and 
follows  even,  with  an  eye  of  compassion,  the  thousands 
of  his  countrymen  who  leave  their  native  home  in  dis 
content,  to  the  extreme  East,  and  extreme  West,  there 
to  perish,  alas !  only  too  often  in  the  cities  of  Constan 
tinople,  Paris,  London  and  New  York,  from  want  of  the 
bread  of  life.  He  knows,  moreover,  that  mere  political 
reforms  and  reactions  can  eifect  no  real  cure  of  the 
many  evils  which  produced,  as  their  natural  fruit,  the 
gigantic  emigration  and  the  late  revolution.  He  sees 
that  a  moral  regeneration  of  society  is  necessary,  and 
especially  works  of  Christian  philanthropy,  which  will 
relieve  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  and  destitute,  destroy 
the  envy  and  jealousy  of  the  lower  against  the  higher 
ranks,  and  recommend  Christianity  to  the  great  masses, 
now  so  fearfully  alienated  from  it. 

"For  fifteen  years," — he  said  in  his  first  speech  on 
the  subject  of  Inner  Mission,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Church  Diet,  on  Luther's  grave, — "for  fifteen  years  past, 
the  thought  and  hope  has  animated  me  with  growing  vigor 


WICHERN.  411 

and  clearness,  that  our  fatherland,  the  heart  of  Europe, 
might  yet  produce  from  its  bosom,  a  society  and  confede 
ration  of  faith  and  love,  oifering  itself  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
church  and  the  country — a  society  endowed  with  the  re 
sources  of  learning,  the  wisdom  of  statesmanship,  the 
power  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  government,  and 
with  the  spirit  of  the  eternal  mercy  of  God  from  which 
alone  can  proceed  the  salvation  of  nations.  This  hope 
appeared  to  most  men  a  mere  phantom.  In  Germany  as 
it  then  was,  this  seed  could  not  take  root.  The  cover  must 
first  be  removed  from  the  eyes  of  all.  This  the  hand  of 
God  has  done  in  1848 :  the  abyss  lies  open,  the  ground 
is  plowed  and  ready  to  receive  the  divine  seed  of  a  faith 
working  by  love,  that  it  may  grow  up  and  unfold  its 
glory.  A  day  of  God,  a  day  of  salvation  for  our  church 
in  our  dear  fatherland  has  arisen  with  the  revolutionary 
events.  It  will  be  known  and  felt,  that  the  Evangelical 
Church  can  and  must  become  a  church  of  the  people, 
( Volks-Kirche,}  by  penetrating  the  whole  nation  with 
the  whole  power  of  the  gospel,  and  a  new  life-breath  of 
God.  If  the  church  is  to  become  the  fountain  of  the 
Christian  life  of  the  nation,  it  must,  in  its  confederated 
capacity,  make  the  work  of  Inner  Mission  its  own." 

Our  readers  are  already  informed  about  the  meaning 
of  Inner  Mission.  It  refers  to  domestic  heathenism 
which  has  crept  into  German  Protestantism  to  such  a 
fearful  extent,  and  it  labors  to  reclaim  it  to  living  Chris 
tianity.  It  comprehends,  in  one  organic  whole,  the 
various  efforts  already  commenced  before  by  separate 
societies — but  now  carried  on  with  more  system  and 
vigor — for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  benefit  of  the 


412  WICHERN. 

poor,  the  sick,  the  widow,  the  orphan,  the  stranger,  the 
emigrant,  the  prisoner,  the  travelling  journeyman  ;  the 
distribution  of  good  books  and   tracts ;   the  supply   of 
destitute  charges  with  the  means  of  the  Gospel ;  the 
founding  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  ;  the 
arrangement  of  courses  of  lectures  on  instructive  and 
useful  topics,   to  mixed  audiences  in   large  cities ;  the 
training  of  deacons  and  deaconesses  ;  in  fact,  the  whole 
field  of  Christian  philanthropy.  It  has  become  almost  co 
extensive  with  practical  Christianity.    Its  moving  soul  is 
that  love  which  is  as  old  as  the  Church,  and  whose  fountain 
springs  from  the  Cross.    It  does  the  work  of  the  Church 
and  for  the  Church,  and  with  the  most  active  members 
of  the  Church — but  mostly  in  the  form  of  free  associa 
tion.     Hence  the    opposition   of   the   high   church  Lu 
therans  to  Inner  Mission ;  for  like  the  Romanists  and 
Puseyites,  they  virtually  identify  the  Church  with  the 
clergy,  and  disown  every  Christian  work  however  good 
and  noble,  which  does  not  proceed  from  the  clergy  and 
has  not  the  official  seal  stamped  upon  it.    But  this  prin 
ciple  of  free  association  and  lay  activity  in  the  Church — 
only  think  of  the  British  and  American  Bible,  Tract,  and 
Missionary  Societies  ! — has  become  an  irresistible  power 
of  the  age,  and  opened  a  new  chapter  in  church  history. 
Even  Romanism  seems  to  be  unable  to  suppress  it  alto 
gether,  if  we  look  at   the   various  societies  formed  in 
1848  under  the  names  of  Bonifacius,  Boromceus,  Pius, 
and  at  the    singular   fact,  that  the  leading  and   most 
vigorous  organs  of  the  Roman^Catholic  press,  even  those 
of  the  ultramontane  party — as  the  Historisch-Politische 
Blatter,  U  Univers,  and  Brownsoris  Meview — are  con- 


WICHERN.  413 

ducted  by  laymen,  generally  converts  from  Protestant 
ism. 

The  inherent  life  of  the  movement  of  Inner  Mis 
sion,  in  connection  with  the  sanction  of  the  Kirchentag, 
and  especially  the  peculiar  condition  of  affairs  at  that 
critical  period,  made  it  spread  since  1848  with  unusual 
rapidity  all  over  Germany  and  Switzerland ;  and  its 
popularity  and  vigor  seems  still  extending  and  deepen 
ing,  although  a  number  of  so-called  evangelical  societies 
which  owed  their  existence  to  the  charm  of  novelty  and 
the  excitement  of  the  moment,  have  already  gone  the 
way  of  all  flesh.  Wichern  gives  the  work  a  fresh  im 
pulse  at  every  meeting  of  the  Church  Diet,  of  which  he  is, 
upon  the  whole,  the  most  popular  and  interesting  orator. 
He  speaks  without  notes,  with  great  freedom,  energy, 
and  fluency.  He  is  perhaps  somewhat  too  lengthy  and 
prolix,  but  commands  the  audience  nevertheless  to  the 
end.  His  generous  zeal  for  a  great  and  good  cause,  his 
noble  figure,  his  earnest  countenance,  his  blue  eyes 
sparkling  with  the  fire  of  genius  and  sanctified  benevo 
lence,  never  fail  to  make  a  deep  impression,  as  he  un 
folds  the  statistics  of  misery  and  crime,  and  calls  upon 
the  assembly  to  show  their  faith  by  works,  and  to  stem 
the  flood  of  infidelity,  socialism,  and  revolution,  by  lead 
ing  society  back  to  practical  virtue  and  religion,  as  re 
vealed  in  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  movement  of  Inner  Mission  does  not  propose  any 
alteration  in  the  creed  and  constitution  of  the  Church. 
It  rests  throughout  on  the  basis  of  the  Evangelical 
Protestant  confessions  of  faith,  and  differs  therefore 
from  Romanism  as  well  as  from  mere  natural  philan- 

35* 


414  WICHERN. 

tliropj.  But  it  may  be  called  a  practical  complement 
to  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  to  the 
modern  evangelical  theology — a  noble  effort  to  rebuild 
what  rationalism  and  indifferentism  have  destroyed,  in 
the  moral  and  religious  life  of  the  nation.  It  insists 
upon  works  of  charity,  but  on  the  ground  of  the  merit 
of  Christ  and  the  free  grace  of  God. 

Quite  recently  an  important  step  was  taken  by  the 
Evangelical  Conference  which  assembled  at  Berlin  in 
November,  1856,  to  embody  a  part  of  the  work  of  Inner 
Mission  which  was  carried  on  thus  far,  as  already  re 
marked,  mostly  in  the  form  of  voluntary  agency,  in  the 
regular  machinery  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Prus 
sia,  and  thus  to  give  it  an  official  and  permanent  charac 
ter.  We  mean  the  introduction  of  the  deaconate  as  a 
congregational  office  for  the  care  of  the  poor  and  the 
sick,  according  tcr  the  practice  of  the  apostolic  church. 
Wichern  and  Pliedner  were  among  the  fifty-eight  mem 
bers  of  that  Conference,  elected  by  the  King.  They  may 
regard  this  action,  which  will  no  doubt  receive  the  sanc 
tion  of  the  projected  General  Synod,  as  a  triumph  of 
their  long  and  self-denying  labors.  But  it  will  require 
some  time  till  a  sufficient  number  of  efficient  deacons  and 
presbyters,  or  lay  helpers  of  the  minister  in  the  exercise 
of  pastoral  care,  can  be  found  in  a  state  church  where 
the  majority  of  congregations  are  either  spiritually  dead, 
as  in  most  of  the  Eastern  provinces,  or  at  least  composed 
of  the  most  heterogeneous  material.  In  the  Western 
provinces,  where  the  Reformed  church  prevails,  the 
office  spoken  of  has  long  been  established,  and  is  in 
more  or  less  successful  operation. 


WICHEKN.  415 

Closely  connected  with  the  deaconate  is  the  institution 
of  female  deacons  or  deaconesses,  or,  if  you  choose  to 
call  them  so,  Evangelical  Sisters  of  Charity.  This 
should  likewise  be  made  a  regular  ecclesiastical  office. 
It  was  agitated  long  before  1848,  by  Dr.  Fliedner,  an 
eminently  practical  minister,  who  is  favorably  known  as 
the  founder  and  director  of  the  establishment  of  deacon 
esses  at  Keiserswerth  on  the  Rhine.  The  celebrated  Miss 
Florence  Nightingale  is  one  of  his  pupils,  which  alone 
should  be  sufficient  to  commend  him  to  the  favorable  no 
tice  of  Great  Britain  and  America.  By  indefatigable 
exertions  he  succeeded  to  awaken  a  deep  interest  in  this 
matter.  Similar  establishments  have  been  founded  since 
at  Berlin,  (Bethania,  with  a  magnificent  building  and 
rich  endowment  by  the  Queen,)  at  Jerusalem,  in  connec 
tion  with  the  Anglo-Prussian  bishopric,  at  Smyrna,  and 
at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  (under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Passa- 
vant,  an  active  Lutheran  minister,)  and  have  been  most 
ly  supplied  with  excellent  and  well  trained  female  nurses 
from  the  mother  institution  of  Keiserswerth.  Fliedner 
brought  them  himself  to  America,  and  to  Jerusalem. 
All  these  institutions  of  Christian  sisterhoods  have 
proved  a  great  temporal  and  spiritual  blessing  to  the 
sick  placed  under  their  care.  It  has  been  asserted  re 
cently  by  a  number  of  bishops  of  the  Protestant  Episco 
pal  church  in  the  United  States,  that  "  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  in  the  Romish  communion  are  worth,  perhaps, 
more  to  their  cause  than  the  combined  wealth  of  their 
hierarchy,  the  learning  of  their  priesthood,  and  the  self- 
sacrificing  zeal  of  their  missionaries."  (Memorial  Pa 
pers,  ed.  by  Bishop  Potter,  p.  61.)  This  may  be  greatly 


416  WICHERN. 

exaggerated.  But  it  is  certainly  high  time  that  the 
Protestant  churches  should  begin  seriously  to  consider 
the  great  importance  of  affording  the  large  number  of 
unmarried  and  unemployed  females  which  are  found 
everywhere,  a  proper  opportunity  to  devote  their  pecu 
liar  talents  and  gifts  to  the  service  of  Christ  and  hu 
manity,  in  the  discharge  of  the  most  tender  and  most 
endearing  offices  of  charity. 

To  return  to  Dr.  Wichern,  we  may  state  in  conclu 
sion  that  he  has  been  called  recently  to  Berlin  as  gene- 
ral  superintendent  of  the  prisons,  (on  which  subject  he 
was  consulted  some  years  ago  by  the  Prussian  govern 
ment,)  and  been  offered  a  seat  at  the  same  time  in  the 
Oberkirchenrath  and  Staatsrath,  the  two  highest  councils 
of  the  Prussian  Church  and  State.  But  it  seems  he  has 
declined  so  far  to  give  up  his  connection  with  the 
Rough  House,  to  which  he  devoted  the  labors  of  his 
first  love,  and  in  which  he  trained  himself  to  general 
usefulness.  He  could  hardly  find  a  more  influential, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  more  independent  position,  than 
he  occupies  now. 

If  we  now.  look  over  the  field  and  prospects  of  practi 
cal  Christianity  in  Germany,  the  question  naturally 
rises,  Is  this  movement  of  Inner  Mission  likely  to  con 
tinue  much  longer,  either  in  a  free,  or  in  an  official 
form ;  or  will  it  gradually  die  away,  especially  if  Wich 
ern  and  Fliedner  shall  once  have  been  called  to  their 
rest  ?  Will  the  work  of  a  radical  regeneration  of  Pro 
testantism,  on  its  present  doctrinal  basis,  which  the 
movement  aims  at,  succeed  on  a  large  scale ;  or  must  we 
look  for  a  new  reformation,  which  the  Lord  alone  can 


WICIIERN.  417 

bring  about  by  his  Spirit  ?  Will  the  thirty-eight  inde 
pendent  sovereignties,  and  as  many  State-churches  of 
Germany  which  now  mar  its  unity  and  divide  its  strength, 
ever  be  merged  into  one  free  powerful  confederation,  so 
as  to  become  the  thinking  head  and  the  beating  heart  of 
old  and  ever-renewing  Europe  ?  Will  that  noble  coun 
try  ever  flourish  like  a  garden  of  God ;  or  has  it  seen  its 
brightest  days,  and  fulfilled  its  mission  to  the  world? 
Are  the  many  signs  of  progress  and  improvement  the 
rays  of  the  rising,  or  of  the  setting  sun?  Is  not  the 
new  life  of  Christianity,  after  all,  confined  to  a  compara 
tively  small  number,  and  are  not  the  masses  of  the  peo 
ple,  in  spite  of  all  church  diets,  church  counsels,  church 
ordinances,  church  hymns,  church  books  and  church 
papers,  fearfully  alienated  from  the  Church,  and  becom 
ing  more  and  more  addicted  to  the  degrading  and  dis 
graceful  worship  of  Mammon  ?  Are  not  the  present 
agitations  and  commotions  ominous  of  a  new  political 
and  social  convulsion  that  shall  leave  the  revolution  of 
1848  far  behind,  and  sweep  away  in  its  current  church 
and  state,  priests  and  kings,  to  make  room  for  anarchy 
and  dissolution  ?  Or  are  they  the  birth-throes  simply 
of  a  new  creation,  and  the  final  triumphs  of  the  ever 
lasting  Gospel  of  love  and  peace  ? 

We  cannot  look  through  the  veil  of  the  future.  But 
we  do  know  that  the  recent  revival  of  evangelical  theol 
ogy  and  religion  which  we  have  described  in  this  book, 
is  not  an  empty  dream,  but  a  living  reality,  and  that  its 
conquests  in  the  battle  with  error  can  never  be  lost. 
We  know  that  the  practical  movements  which  resulted 
from  it,  have  been  an  incalculable  blessing  to  hundreds 


418  WICIIERN. 

and  thousands  of  immortal  souls.  Though  the  tree 
should  die  in  the  land  of  its  birth,  its  fruitful  seed  has 
already  taken  root  in  other  countries,  full  of  hope  and 
promise.  The  African  church  died  away  after  she  had 
produced  her  greatest  divine  and  saint ;  but  St.  Augus 
tine's  theology  and  piety  continued  to  live  through  the 
middle  ages,  and  fertilized  the  soil  of  the  Reformation, 
and  are  a  rich  source  of  instruction  and  edification  to 
this  day. 

Dr.  Wichern  has  adopted  for  his  motto  the  words  of 
the  disciple  who  leaned  on  the  Master's  bosom:  "Faith 
is  the  victory  which  overcometh  the  world."  May  the 
faith  of  the  apostolic  church,  the  faith  which  justifies 
and  sanctifies  the  whole  man,  the  faith  which  worketh 
by  love,  overcome  all  the  countless  and  fearful  foes  who 
contend  against  it  in  the  land  of  the  Reformation.  This 
is  our  concluding  hope  and  prayer  for  Germany,  and  for 
the  world. 


FINIS. 


Sjmstiait 


LINDSAY  &  BLAKISTON,  PHILADELPHIA, 

PUBLISH 

THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE, 

BY 

THOMAS  AKNOLD,  D.D., 

AUTHOR  OF  "LECTURES  ON  MODERN  BISTORT,"  "THE  HISTORY  OF  ROME,"  &c.,  Ac. 
In  two  volumes,  12mo. 

Vol.  I.  contains  "  ITS  COURSE,  ITS  HINDRANCES,  AND  ITS  HELPS." 
Vol.  II.  contains  "  ITS  HOPES,  ITS  FEARS,  AND  ITS  CLOSE." 
FRIGE,  FOR  THE  TWO  VOLUMES,  $2.00 


THE  PUBLISHERS  give  below  a  Jew  only  of  the  very  many  flattering 
notices  they  have  received  of  this  work:  — 

We  will  venture  to  affirm  that  with  the  single  exception  of  Bisnop  Butler's,  no  sermons  have  ever 
been  printed  which  contain  so  many  "  seeds  of  thought."  No  unthinking  man  can  read  them  without 
being  benefited.  Our  obligations  to  Arnold  are  so  great  that  we  cannot  let  this  opportunity  pass  with 
out  recommending  his  works.  Now  that  the  American  publishers  have  printed  this  work  so  well  and 
so  cheaply,  let  them  be  encouraged.  We  hope  every  clergyman  and  every  intelligent  layman  will  pro 
cure  this  volume,  and  thus  encourage  the  publishers  to  print  all  of  Arnold's  sermons,  which  in  the 
English  edition  are  in  six  volumes,  and  cost  to  import  upwards  of  twenty  dollars.  —  Southern  Chun\ 
man. 

His  aim  is  to  make  his  readers  acquainted  with  themselves;  to  impress  them  with  the  necessity  «jf 
controlling  their  passions;  to  unfold  to  them  the  principles  by  which  they  should  be  governed;  to 
exemplify  the  nature  and  the  difficulties  of  piety  ;  and  prompt  them  to  a  virtuous,  a  religious,  and  a 
astful  life.  He  is  never  common-place  nor  prolix.  His  thoughts  are  clear  and  fresh,  ofter.  unfolding  his 
subjects  in  new  aspects,  and  leading  the  mind  into  fields  never  before  explored,  and  glowing  irth  objerts 
of  unexpected  interest  and  beauty.  —  Lord's  Review. 

The  Christian  life  is  set  forth  in  these  volumes  with  all  that  delightful  fervor  »nd  force  which  charac 
terized  the  late  admirable  author.  They  contain  an  exhibition  of  principles  th:  are  of  universal  inteie 
to  the  religious  reader.—  Harpers'  Magazine. 


We  would  earnestly  counsel  all  parents  to  study  this  book,  and  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  their 
»ons.  —  Criterion. 

We  honor  the  boldness  of  (he  man.  we  admire  his  scholarship,  and  we  love  his  piety.  —  Evangelist. 


Wei  »t  is  for  the  Protestant  cause,  which,  in  some  respects,  never  had  a  more  valiant  champion  that 
Richard  Whately  is  still  Archbishop  of  DublK  We  most  cordially  recommend  his  writings.  They 
can  nerer  be  read  without  instruction.— Episcopal  Recorder 

LINDSAY  &  BLAKISTON,  PHILADELPHIA,  PUBLISH 

I. 
SCllIPTUEE   REVELATIONS 

CONCERNING  A  FUTURE  STATE. 

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This  work  can  hardly  fail  to  be  interesting  to  the  people  of  God,  discussing,  as  it  does,  the  most  im- 
portant  of  all  concerns,  our  relations  to  a  future  state  of  existence.— Presbyterian. 

We  can,  wrth  great  confidence,  recommend  it  as  one  of  the  greatest  efforts  of  mind  of  the  present 
generation.— Southern  Baptist. 

It  is  an  able  contribution  to  theological  science,  and  every  minister  of  tire  gospel,  and  every  man 
who  has  capacity  or  relish  for  such  subjects,  should  read  it.— Presbyterian  of  the  West. 

No  book  is  more  needed  in  this  age  of  scepticism,  and  no  mati  better  qualified  to  write  it  than 
Bishop  Whately.— Christiun  Chronicle. 

We  most  cheerfully  recommend  this  volume  to  our  readers  as  an  antidote  for  tne  errors  of  the 
day  .—Christian  Secretary. 

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The  clear,  cogent,  and  logical  writings  of  the  eminent  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  can  never  fail  to  secure 
readers.  When  he  asks  attention,  he  is  sure  to  have  something  to  say  which  is  deserving  of  a  hearing. 
and  is  always  amply  prepared  to  reward  the  attention  he  has  excited.  In  the  treatise  before  us,  ho 
puts  to  flight  the  ignorant  unbelief  of  those  who  profess  to  discredit  the  existence  and  influences  of  evi'. 
spirits.  Each  topic  is  discussed  with  eminent  clearness,  and  the  Scripture  doctrine  is  evolved  in  a 
inainer  highly  satisfactory. 

III. 

THOUGHTS  AND  APOPHTHEGMS, 

RELIGIOUS  AND  MISCELLANEOUS, 

FROM  THE  WRITINGS  OF  ARCHBISHOP  WHATELY. 

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There  is  a  directness  of  aim  and  argument,  and  a  wide  compass  of  mind,  in  the  Writings  ol   4rrh 
Whately,  which  commend  them  to  thoughtful,  discriminating  readers.— Lutheran  Observer. 


IV. 

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OF 

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ver. 


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A  MANUAL  OF  SACRED  HISTORY; 


OR. 
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BY 

JOHN  HENRY  KURTZ,  D.D., 

PmOFESSOR   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY   IN  THE    UNIVERSITY  OP   DORPAT,   «TO. 

TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  SIXTH  GERMAN  EDITION, 

BY 

CHARLES  F.  SCHAEFFER,  D.D., 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PEESS. 

"  A  very  comprehensive,  accurate,  and  methodical  digest  of  the  Sacred  His- 
Itoiy  —  done  with  genuine  thoroughness  and  scholarship.  There  is  nothing 
am*ng  our  manuals  of  Biblical  History  that  corresponds  with  this.  It  is  sim 
ple  in  style,  and  orthodox  in  sentiment." — N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

"The  Observations  (introduced  by  the  author)  are  replete  with  the  results 
of  extensive  research — meeting  objections  and  cavils,  solving  difficulties,  ex- 
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connectious,  exposing  and  rectifying  errors,  unfolding  the  nature  and  design 
of  sacred  institutions  and  ordinances,  and  showing  the  relation  of  events,  per 
BOUS,  institutions  and  prophecies,  to  the  great  central  fact  and  theme  of  Scrip 
ture,  man's  redemption  through  the  incarnate  Son."  —  Evangelical  Review, 
April,  1855. 

"  This  is  the  best  book  of  the  kind  we  have  ever  examined,  and  one  of  th« 
best  translations  from  German  into  English  we  have  ever  seen.  The  author 
makes  no  parade  of  learning  in  his  book,  but  his  exegetical  statements  are 
evidently  founded  on  the  most  careful,  thorough,  and  extensive  study,  and  cnn 
generally  be  relied  upon  as  among  the  best  results,  the  most  surely  ascertained 
conclusions  of  modern  philological  investigation.  We  by  no  means  hold  our- 
selves  responsible  for  every  sentiment  in  the  book,  but  we  cordially  recommend 
*t  to  every  minister,  to  every  Sunday  school  teacher,  to  every  parent,  and  k 
every  intelligent  layman,  as  a  safe  and  exceedingly  instructive  guide,  through 
the  entire  Bible  history,  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  It  is  a  book  which 
actually  accomplishes  more  than  its  title  promises,"  Ac.  Ac. — (Andover)  Bibli- 
Satrct,  April,  1855. 


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AN  ILLUSTRATED  LIFE  OF  MARTIN  LUTHER, 

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The  world  owes  much  to  Luther,  and  the  Reformation  of  which  he  was  the  prominent  leader,  and 
ftotningr,  save  the  pure,  simple  word  of  God,  will  do  more  towards  securing:  the  prevalence  and  per 
Mtuating  the  influence  of  the  principles  of  religious  liberty  for  which  he  and  the  other  Reformer* 
eontended,  than  the  circulation  of  a  book  in  which  the  mental  processes  by  which  he  arrived  at  h.a 
conclusions,  are  set  forth.  We  can  safely  recommend  this  book  as  one  that  is  worthy  of  a  place  m 
•  very  dwelling,  and  we  hope  its  circulation  may  be  as  wide  as  its  merits  are  deserving.  — 


TEE  LIFE  OF  PHILIP  MELANCETHON, 

THE  FRIEND  AND  COMPANION  OF  LUTHER,  According  to  his  Inner  and  Outer  Life 
Translated  from  the  German  of  Charles  Frederick  Ledderhose,  by  the  REV.  G.  F.  KROTEI, 
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The  simple  and  Christian  parables  of  Krurnmacher,  chiefly  the  productions  of  his  younger  years, 
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drawn.  In  their  collected  form  they  have  passed  through  various  editions  in  Germany,  but  we  doubt 
whether  any  of  them  have  been  so  tasteful  and  beautiful  in  all  their  appliances  as  the  one  before  u». 
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Endurance,  foresight,  strength  and  skill, 
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r~«er,  and  entire  "  getting  up"  of  this  \  olume,  is  in  tasteful  accordapcc  with  the  preciou*  perns  »• 
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PROCTOR'S    HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSM>ES 

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HISTO&Y  OF  THE  CRUSADES, 

IHEIR  RISE,  PROGRESS,  AND  RESULTS.      By  MAJOR  PROCTOR,  of   the 

Royal  Military  Academy. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.  THE  FIRST  CRUSADE. — Causes  of  the  Crnsades — Preaching  01  tht 
First  Crusade — Peter  the  Hermit — The  Crusade  undertaken  by  the  People — 
The  Crusade  undertaken  by  the  Kings  and  Nobles — The  First  Crusaders  at 
Constantinople— The  Siege  of  Nice— Defeat  of  the  Turks— Seizure  of  Edesea— 
Siege  and  Capture  of  Antioch  by  the  Crusaders — Defence  of  Antioch  by  the 
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Cceur  de  Lion  in  Palestine. 

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unite  in  the  Crusade — Affairs  of  the  Eastern  Empire — Expedition  against  Con- 
stantinople-^-Second  Siege  of  Constantinople. 

CHAPTER  V.  THE  LAST  FOUR  CRUSADES.— History  of  the  Latin  Empire  of 
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Eighth  Crusade. 

CHAPTER  VI.— CONSEQUENCES  OP  THE  CRUSADES. 


At  the  present  time,  when  a  misunderstanding  concerning  the  Holy  Places  at 
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the  mind  naturally  reverts  to  the  period  when  nearly  all  the  military  powers  of 
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Or,  Thoughts  on  the  Influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     1  vol.,  elotiL 

CHRIST  RECEIVING  SINNERS. 

One  vol.,  cloth. 

The  FINGER  of  GOD,  in  Creation,  The  Spread  of  Christianity.  &o 

On©  vol.,  cloth. 


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